The U.S. designation of the PCC and CV as Specially Designated Global Terrorists will not resolve the issue of criminal factions in Brazil, Rafael Alcadipani said [1].
This assessment suggests that external diplomatic or legal labels are insufficient to dismantle the internal structures of organized crime. Because these groups have integrated themselves into the national financial system, a foreign designation may fail to disrupt their primary operations.
Alcadipani, a professor and specialist in public security, said the matter during an interview with CNN Brasil [1]. He said the designation does not address the deeper issue of how organized crime has infiltrated the country's economic sectors [2].
According to Alcadipani, the Brazilian economy is "contaminated" by organized crime [1]. This systemic infiltration means that the factions operate not just as gangs, but as entities woven into the legitimate business fabric of the nation.
While the U.S. move aims to restrict the movement of funds and people associated with the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV), Alcadipani said the move is unlikely to solve the core problem [1]. He said Brazil has failed in its own efforts to combat these factions and could potentially use the U.S. action as a tool for improvement, but the designation itself is not a cure [2].
The professor said the scale of the contamination within the economy makes the problem a domestic structural failure rather than one that can be fixed via international sanctions [1].
“the Brazilian economy is "contaminated" by organized crime”
The tension between international security designations and domestic economic reality highlights a gap in the strategy to fight transnational crime. If organized crime is deeply embedded in the legal economy, sanctions targeting specific groups may only affect the periphery of their operations while leaving the core financial infrastructure intact.
