Senate candidate Guilherme Derrite (PP-SP) urged the United States to classify Brazilian criminal factions as terrorist organizations [1, 2].
Such a designation would shift the legal framework used to combat organized crime in South America. By labeling these groups as terrorists, the U.S. could implement stricter sanctions and surveillance on the financial networks these factions use to move money across borders.
Speaking during an interview on Jornal da Manhã in São Paulo, Derrite said the move is intended to choke the funding and money-laundering operations of the groups abroad [1, 2]. He said that the current approach is insufficient to stop the flow of capital that sustains these organizations.
Derrite said the goal is not to promote military intervention in Brazil [1, 2]. Instead, he presented the proposal as a method to enable greater international cooperation, and increase pressure on the Brazilian government to take more aggressive action against the gangs [1, 2].
The proposal targets the logistical and financial infrastructure of the factions. By utilizing U.S. counter-terrorism tools, the candidate said the international community could better identify and freeze assets linked to these criminal enterprises [1, 2].
This strategy focuses on the economic vulnerabilities of the factions rather than traditional policing alone. Derrite said that cutting off the financial oxygen of these groups is essential for degrading their power within Brazil and their influence in other regions [1, 2].
“The move is intended to choke the funding and money-laundering operations of the groups abroad.”
The push to reclassify criminal gangs as terrorist organizations represents a strategic shift toward the 'securitization' of organized crime. If the U.S. adopts this label, it grants federal agencies broader powers to freeze assets and monitor communications without the standard hurdles of traditional criminal investigations. This move would likely increase diplomatic tension between the U.S. and the Brazilian government regarding national sovereignty and the legal definition of terrorism.
