US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on May 28, 2026, that the United States government plans to classify PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) and Comando Vermelho (CV) as 'Foreign Terrorist Organizations'. According to Rubio, these two factions are 'some of the most violent criminal organizations in Brazil' and have networks operating throughout Latin America that also reach the United States.

Rubio also declared that the Trump administration intends to use 'all available tools' to combat drug trafficking and disrupt financial flows linked to what he referred to as 'narco-terrorists'.

The main arguments used by Trump's allies and by sectors of the U.S. government to justify this classification are:

• International expansion of the factions

• Involvement in international drug trafficking

• Use of extreme violence and heavy weaponry

• Influence over drug trafficking routes leading to the USA

• Capacity for corruption, money laundering, and territorial dominance

The strategy is part of a broader policy of the Trump administration to treat large cartels and Latin American factions as terrorist threats, something that has already occurred with drug trafficking groups in Venezuela and Colombia.

The Brazilian government has expressed concern about this possibility. Brazilian authorities argue that PCC and CV are criminal organizations but not terrorists in the legal sense of Brazilian legislation, which typically associates terrorism with ideological, religious, or political motivation.

If the classification is officially implemented, the United States could:

• Impose international financial sanctions

• Freeze assets and properties linked to the factions

• Punish companies and banks that conduct transactions associated with the groups

• Intensify intelligence cooperation and police operations

• Increase diplomatic pressure on Brazil

• Facilitate extraditions and international investigations

• Expand anti-drug trafficking operations on the continent

There is also political and diplomatic concern in Brazil because, in other recent cases, the Trump administration used similar classifications to justify military operations and more aggressive actions against groups considered 'narco-terrorists'.

So far, there has been no official announcement of U.S. military action on Brazilian territory, but the topic has generated strong diplomatic debate between Brasília and Washington.