Lula Blasts US for Labelling Brazil Crime Factions as Terrorists

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 organized crime



groups, the Red Command (CV) and First Capital Command (PCC), as terrorist organizations. 

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. 

"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."