Classifying criminal factions or militias operating in Brazil as terrorists does not combat organized crime, at the same time it can serve as a pretext for foreign interference, argues the government leader in the National Congress, senator Randolfe Rodrigues (PT-AP).
“There is no problem with labeling [de terrorismo]. If you want to label it, give it whatever name you have to give it, as long as the label does not compromise national sovereignty. What we do not want is to give any foreign nation an opportunity to intervene in Brazil. The problem of organized crime will be solved by us, Brazilians”, said the government leadership.
Randolfe spoke this Thursday (6) with Brazil Agency about the bills being processed in the Legislature that deal with criminal organizations and which have become a source of dispute between the government and the opposition.
The government leadership highlighted that the Executive has no problem labeling criminal organizations as terrorists, despite assessing that the measure is innocuous in advancing the fight against organized crime.
“I don’t want to debate the label, I want to debate the content [das políticas] to defeat crime. It is not the label that will defeat organized crime. It’s not calling someone else ugly that will defeat them. Horror cannot be combated by calling it horror. We have to increase the penalty for being a member of a faction, we have to combat the financial flow of factions, we have to coordinate police forces”, he explained.
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The government and the opposition are locked in a dispute in the Chamber of Deputies over which project should prevail to combat criminal organizations, if the PL of the factions, signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silvaor if the PL of Terrorism [1.283/2025]by deputy Danilo Forte (União-CE), who equates factions and militias with terrorism. There is also the possibility of combining the two projects into one. The president of the Chamber, Hugo Motta, informed that the House should decide on the issue by the end of next week.
Scheduled for this week, the vote on the terrorism bill was postponed in the Chamber’s Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ).
“This decision is the president’s [Hugo Motta]. The rite will decide. It may be that he comes to the CCJ. Maybe he thinks [juntando os dois projetos em disputa sob a mesma relatoria]”, he explained to Brazil Agency the president of the CCJ, deputy Paulo Azi (União-BA).
Experts have warned that equating factions and militias with terrorism exposes Brazil to the interventionist strategy of the United States in Latin America.
Proselytism
For government leader Randolfe Rodrigues, the PL that equates criminal organizations with terrorism serves a certain political-ideological discourse.
“Let’s stop proselytizing and ideologizing the issue and treat it as a State issue to be faced by all sides, right, left, government and opposition”, he stated.
Randolfe argued that the Brazilian government presented the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) of Security and the Antifaction PL to combat crime by increasing penalties for members of the criminal organization, integrating the police and investing in the intelligence of the security forces.
“It is not enough to have an operation against organized crime in a favela area and then leave the area so that other recruits from organized crime can continue doing what the PCC, what Comando Vermelho and other organizations do. The measures that the government takes are based on the binomial coordination of police forces to face a war and increased penalties to combat factions”, he added.
Terrorism
The author of the bill that equates factions with terrorism, deputy Danilo Fortes, justified that the measure is important to enable the police to confront criminal organizations without fear of the Internal Affairs Department, which is the body responsible for monitoring and applying sanctions against police officers who violate the rules.
“The PL provides conditions for you to create extralegal situations to be able to confront, including preventive actions. I’m not getting into the political or ideological field. I’m getting into the issue of the conduct that organized crime is having in Brazil, which is terrorism. When you cause collective fear, it’s terrorism,” he told Brazil Agency.
The deputy also rejected the thesis that the measure could open a loophole for foreign intervention in Brazil.
“The United States cannot invade. This is [responsabilidade] of the UN. Sovereignty is only harmed if there is some bilateral or multilateral agreement, which there is not. And who will make the definition is the Executive Branch. We are losing sovereignty to crime, internally”, he said.
