(AFP) – Brazil’s conservative presidential hopeful Flavio Bolsonaro said Tuesday that he asked US President Donald Trump during a White House meeting to designate two organized crime groups in his country as terrorist organizations. The Comando Vermelho (CV) and the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) are Brazilian prison and street gangs that the Trump administration has been considering for the “narco-terrorist” designation it has imposed on Mexican and Colombian cartels.
“I went specifically to ask him to designate the CV and PCC as terrorist organizations, because that’s what they are,” the 45-year-old senator told reporters in Washington after meeting with Trump. The request came during an unusual visit to the White House in early campaign season in Brazil, as the right-wing senator faces a dip in polls over news of his ties to a banker who has been jailed for a multi-million dollar fraud scandal.
Bolsonaro is locked in a tight race in the polls with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose left-wing government has voiced strong opposition to the terror designation of the two gangs. Lula argues that it could lead to US military action against those groups both inside and outside Brazil. One of the US arguments for its ouster of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela back in January was that he was a drug trafficker.
Lula made his own request against the designation when he was received by Trump at the White House two weeks ago. “Lula goes on his knees, crawling, to beg the US president Trump,” Bolsonaro said. “I do the opposite.” He is the eldest son of jailed ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, who suffered a disgraceful fall from power after being convicted of trying to stage a coup. The son claimed he visited the White House at Washington’s request, but AFP was unable to confirm the invitation.
Trump was very critical of the elder Bolsonaro’s prosecution, straining relations with the current leftist government. Flavio Bolsonaro said if he wins the presidential election, Brazil will also join Trump’s security alliance for the Americas, which was launched with 17 Latin American and Caribbean countries in March. “That is Brazil’s place: as a key player in the security of the Americas, shoulder to shoulder with free and sovereign nations,” he said.
He added that Trump was very interested in his election campaign, but “there was no statement of support, nor should there have been one, and I would never ask for such a thing.”
© 2024 AFP
