Lula slams US terror label for Brazil gangs, warns Trump against ‘playing games’ with democracy

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday slammed Washington for designating the country's two biggest crime factions as terrorist groups, warning the United States against "playing games with our democracy."

"We will not accept being treated like children. We will not accept being treated as if we were some tinpot republic," a furious Lula said at an event in the country's northeast.

The US government on Thursday designated Brazil's two main organised crime groups, the Red Command (CV) and First Capital Command (PCC), as terrorist organisations.

Both groups emerged from Brazil's prisons and have expanded across the country and international borders. They wield control of large urban areas with involvement in drug and arms trafficking and extortion.

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"They are terrorists because they torment families, they torment neighborhoods, and they torment the city," said Lula, adding that "we will fight them right here at home."

"They are not the kind of terrorists that Trump is looking for. Trump wants an Osama Bin Laden figure."

The designation was seen as a clear snub to Lula, who had a lengthy meeting with President Trump earlier this month which both leaders hailed as positive.

"I spent three hours with President Trump -- three whole hours," Lula raged, adding he had handed the president documents which specifically discussed the fight against organized crime.

"Do not play games with the sovereignty of this country. Do not play games with our democracy," he added.

A Brazilian federal police commissioner, Luciano Flores, told AFP that CV and PCC did "not fall within the scope of the law that characterizes terrorist organizations."

Instead they are classified as "criminal organizations operating internationally."

'Utter shamelessness'

The United States and Brazil signed an agreement in April to combat arms and drug trafficking.

A statement from the Brazilian presidency on Friday said unilateral measures such as that taken by the US "represents a potential setback in the fight against crime, a risk to human life, and economic harm to the country."

Brazil recently passed an anti-gang law strengthening prison sentences to up to 80 years for those involved in organized crime.

"If you want to fight organized crime, hand over our criminals who are in the United States," Lula said, highlighting that weapons from the US were being "smuggled into Brazil".

He made reference to fugitive ex-spy chief Alexandre Ramagem, who fled to the US after being sentenced to 16 years in prison for assisting jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro in plotting a coup.

Trump has long been seen as an ally of the far-right Bolsonaro family.

The terrorist designation came two days after Trump met with the former president's sons, including Senator Flavio Bolsonaro who is running for president in October elections.

In a video message after the US decision, Flavio said he had done "more for Brazil and for the security of Brazilians" than Lula had in his 17 non-consecutive years in power.

"I worked to ensure they were treated as terrorists, which is what they are. One in four Brazilians lives in areas controlled by this terrorist scum, meaning they have no sovereignty even within their own homes."

Lula slammed Flavio for "the utter shamelessness to betray our homeland by traveling to the United States to beg for American intervention in Brazil."

Lula, seeking a fourth term in office, is facing a tough re-election bid, and recent polling shows him only slightly ahead of Bolsonaro.