Rubio announces plans to designate Brazil’s PCC and Comando Vermelho as terrorist groups

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2026 — The U.S. State Department said it will designate Brazil-based criminal groups Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC, and Comando Vermelho, or CV, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, extending Washington’s use of terrorism authorities against major transnational criminal groups in Latin America. The designations are due to take effect on June 5.

The groups are among Brazil’s largest and most violent criminal organizations, with operations tied to drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion and killings, and with networks that extend beyond Brazil into other parts of Latin America and farther abroad. Treasury previously described PCC as one of the most powerful organized crime groups in Brazil and said its operations reach the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia.

The move places the two groups under a more severe U.S. counterterrorism framework. An FTO designation triggers criminal liability for knowingly providing material support to the organization, while an SDGT designation generally blocks property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction and bars U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with the targets. State says FTO designations are made under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The action fits into a broader policy shift launched under President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order directing the U.S. government to pursue terrorist designations for certain cartels and transnational criminal organizations.