Brazil will not be treated as a “tinpot country,” President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Friday after the United States designated the country’s two largest criminal gangs, the First Capital Command (PCC) and the Red Command, as foreign terrorist organizations. The announcement, made by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, is being widely seen in Brazil as a setback for Lula, who had strongly opposed the designation.

A Political and Diplomatic Tension

The move is also being viewed as a boost for Lula’s main challenger in October’s presidential election, far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro. Chosen to run in place of his father, Jair Bolsonaro—who is in house arrest after being convicted of attempting a coup,Flávio spent the week in the U.S., where he met with Donald Trump and Rubio.

Lula expressed his disappointment during a speech in the state of Sergipe. “I am very saddened that the United States secretary, from North America, a certain Marco Rubio, said that our criminals here are terrorists and that Americans can intervene,” he said. “We do not accept being treated like little boys. We do not accept being treated as if we were some tinpot country.”

In a statement, Lula also criticized the Bolsonaro family, calling them “traitors” and “false patriots.” He accused them of advocating for foreign intervention in Brazil, which he claimed caused significant damage to the country, particularly through past tariff policies.

Flávio Bolsonaro’s Campaign Struggles

Flávio Bolsonaro has been struggling in the polls, following revelations that he had been recorded asking a banker accused of corruption for $26.8 million to fund a film about his father. The incident caused a significant drop in his poll numbers.

On Thursday, Flávio celebrated the U.S. designation, stating, “On a trip as a presidential candidate, we did more for Brazil and for the security of Brazilians than Lula.” Months earlier, he had expressed a sense of “jealousy” toward countries where the U.S. has attacked boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing 196 people. He suggested the U.S. could take similar action in Rio’s Guanabara Bay, asking, “Wouldn’t you like to spend a few months here helping us combat these terrorist organisations?” in a message to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

History and Operations of the Gangs

Rubio described the PCC and the Red Command as “two of the most violent criminal organizations in Brazil. Their reach extends throughout our region and into our country.” Both groups originated in Brazilian prisons. The Red Command emerged in the 1970s from interactions between political prisoners jailed by the military dictatorship and common criminals in a Rio de Janeiro prison. The PCC was founded in the 1990s in a São Paulo prison, months after 111 prisoners were killed when police ended a rebellion at another prison.

The two gangs compete for control of drug distribution and trafficking routes but operate differently. The Red Command has a more decentralised leadership structure and resembles the more overtly violent and conspicuous crime factions of Mexico and Colombia. In contrast, the PCC functions almost like a corporation, with well-defined hierarchies and a low-profile, businesslike approach.

Lula had opposed the U.S. proposal to classify the groups as terrorist organizations, describing the move as an affront to Brazilian sovereignty and arguing that the country already actively combats them. Just hours before the U.S. announcement, Brazil’s federal police launched a new operation targeting PCC infiltration into the country’s financial sector.

On Friday, Lula reiterated that “any international cooperation to combat criminal factions will be welcome. But we will not accept arbitrary measures imposed from abroad being used as a pretext to attack our sovereignty and our economy. National sovereignty is non-negotiable.”

The U.S. decision to classify the organisations as terrorist groups—following similar designations in Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela,had been widely anticipated for months. However, it was not mentioned during Trump’s meeting with Lula at the White House three weeks ago. Lula said on Friday that Rubio had not been present during his three-hour meeting with Trump. “Mr Marco Rubio was not there, possibly because he was busy helping the son of a Bolsonarista who is running for election in this country, someone who has no shame in betraying our homeland by going to the United States and asking for American intervention in Brazil,” the president said.

Flávio’s visit to the White House last Tuesday was not listed on the president’s public schedule and, unlike Trump’s meeting with Lula,during which the U.S. president even praised the Brazilian leftist—was not mentioned by Trump even in a social media post. The following day, Flávio posted a photograph of a meeting with Rubio and wrote: “We continue strengthening international relations, defending freedom, democracy and the values that unite millions of Brazilians and Americans.” The secretary of state is widely regarded as the Bolsonaro family’s main connection to Trump.

There is still little clarity about the practical consequences of the designation. Analysts fear it could have financial repercussions even for innocent Brazilians. The move is already being widely interpreted as another example of the growing pressure exerted by the White House across the region as part of its so-called “war on drugs.” A report published this week by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project found that U.S. pressure drove an 18% increase in clashes between security forces and armed groups across Latin America and the Caribbean in 2025.