Key Takeaways:
- In a 15 September annual report to Congress on FY2027 major drug countries, Trump said Brasília has not confronted PCC and Comando Vermelho, which he called foreign terrorist organizations and a global cocaine hub, and urged “aggressive” action. Many other Western Hemisphere governments, he wrote, have moved more boldly.
- Brazil’s Justice Ministry: that ignores the March 2026 Anti-Gang Law (harsher sentences for bosses, tools to squeeze operations), “tens of thousands” of federal ops and billions of reais in losses to gangs, and the May 2026 Brazil Against Organized Crime Program (finances, prisons, homicide probes, arms). It also cites existing U.S.–Brazil work and a 7 May 2026 Lula package in Washington on laundering, intel, and arms—still unanswered, Brasília says.
- The same U.S. report does not list Brazil as having “demonstrably failed” its drug obligations (that tag is on Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, Venezuela) and does not put Brazil on the major transit/production list (Afghanistan through Venezuela, including Mexico, Colombia, China, India).
In a statement, Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security has refuted allegations made by the US president that there are failures or omissions in the fight against transnational organized crime.
Donald Trump criticized the Brazilian government for, in his view, failing to confront Brazilian criminal organizations Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV). The statement appears in an annual report sent to the US Congress, dated Tuesday (Sep. 15).
In it, the US leader lists countries considered significant in the trafficking or production of illicit drugs for fiscal year 2027, in addition to presenting individual assessments of various governments.
According to the Brazilian government, the position set forth in Trump’s document “would, if accepted in its entirety, disregard the federal government’s efforts to combat organized crime, such as the Anti-Gang Law, enacted in March 2026, which provides for harsher penalties for ring leaders and creates mechanisms to stifle their operations.”
Trump also stated that while many governments in the Western Hemisphere have adopted bold measures to reduce drug flows and eradicate cartels, the Brazilian government has failed to confront the foreign terrorist organizations known as Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho, which have turned Brazil into a hub for global cocaine flows.
These Brazilian terrorist organizations, Trump went on to argue, pose a growing threat to peace and security around the world, and the Brazilian government urgently needs to take aggressive measures to confront and defeat them before they spread and grow.
The Brazilian ministry further argues that the US president’s statement also fails to take into account “the tens of thousands of operations” carried out by federal forces to combat crime, “resulting in billions of reais in losses to criminals, as well as the numerous actions implemented in 2026 under the Brazil Against Organized Crime Program, launched last May, which economically strangles criminal factions, strengthens the prison system, improves homicide investigations, and combats arms trafficking.”
Cooperation
According to the Brazilian government’s statement, the US statement also disregards the “robust cooperation that already exists” between Brazil and the US in the fight against transnational organized crime.
Furthermore, “it is worth highlighting the proposal delivered in person by President Lula on May 7, 2026, in Washington, which details joint measures to combat money laundering, share intelligence, and combat arms trafficking. To date, Brazil is awaiting a possible response from the US government.”
Compliance
The statement from the Ministry of Justice notes that Brazil is not described in Trump’s document as a country that has “demonstrably failed” to comply with its international obligations to combat drugs based on US laws. This designation was applied to Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, and Venezuela.
Furthermore, Brazil does not appear on the list of major transit or production countries for illicit drugs. Those countries are Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
