Brazil's Lula Criticizes U.S. Terror Designation of Crime Groups

U.S. decision that labeled the country's two largest organized crime groups as terrorist organizations. The groups are the Red Command, known as CV, and the First Capital Command, known as PCC. Both originated inside Brazilian prisons and now operate across the country and beyond its borders in drug and arms trafficking and extortion.

U.S. government announced the terrorist designation on Thursday. " Lula also said the groups are not the type of terrorists sought by President Trump and contrasted them with figures such as Osama Bin Laden.

The United States and Brazil signed an agreement in April aimed at combating arms and drug trafficking. Brazil recently enacted an anti-gang law that raises maximum prison sentences for organized crime to 80 years. Lula noted that he had met with President Trump earlier this month for three hours and provided documents on fighting organized crime during that meeting.

, including former spy chief Alexandre Ramagem, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison for assisting former President Jair Bolsonaro in an alleged coup plot. -origin weapons are being smuggled into Brazil. >"I worked to ensure they were treated as terrorists, which is what they are. S.

decision claiming he had done more for Brazilian security than Lula had during his time in office. S. intervention.