According to the statement, the decision will take effect on June 5, and the measures are adopted under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and an executive order issued by President Donald Trump. The FTO designations take effect upon publication in the Federal Register.

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“Together, they command thousands of members and have orchestrated brutal attacks against Brazilian police officers, public authorities, and civilians. Their influence and illicit networks extend far beyond Brazil’s borders, reaching our entire region and also our country,” said Rubio.

The Brazilian government had been trying in recent months to avoid this designation, believing it could pave the way for US military action in Brazil or the imposition of severe sanctions on economic and financial sectors.

Risk

According to experts, this designation represents a potential risk to Brazilian sovereignty and could even harm investigative cooperation efforts between the two countries, as it could alter the level of confidentiality of information shared between their security agencies, centralizing it in the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or military bodies.

According to these experts, this change could hinder ongoing joint investigations and make future cooperation impossible.

“Narcoterrorism”

In this new context, the Donald Trump administration has been reorienting Washington’s foreign policy toward Latin America, directing its war machine to the region under the justification of combating what it calls “narcoterrorism.”

Over the past few months, US military forces have directly bombed several vessels in the Caribbean, outside of US jurisdiction, under the pretext of combating terrorism.

The invasion of Venezuelan territory earlier this year, which resulted in the removal and capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, was also justified on the basis of combating narcoterrorism.

The scope of similar actions on Brazilian territory under this new designation, while uncertain, becomes a real risk.

Earlier this month, during a visit to the US, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva discussed with Donald Trump at the White House the adoption of joint efforts between the two governments to financially suffocate transnational criminal organizations operating in Brazil and the US. According to Lula, they did not specifically address criminal factions operating in Brazil, such as CV and PCC.

Rubio’s announcement also coincides with a meeting between him and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, a pre-candidate for Brazil’s presidency, which took place on Tuesday (May 26) in Washington. A day earlier, the senator had met with Trump at the White House, accompanied by his brother, the self-exiled former federal representative Eduardo Bolsonaro, both sons of former President Jair Bolsonaro.