Trump's 'Shield of the Americas' tries to impose 'siege' and 'domination' against Brazil under the 'false' argument of fighting crime, says Amorim

President Lula's special advisor for international affairs, Celso Amorim, stated in an interview that the "Shield of the Americas" launched by President Donald Trump attempts to impose a "siege" and "absolute domination" against Brazil under the "false" argument of combating organized crime.

The coalition brings together presidents of Latin American countries more aligned with Trump, such as Javier Milei (Argentina), Abelardo de la Espriella (Colombia) and Nayib Bukele (El Salvador).

Last month, following a request from the Trump administration, the group signed an agreement to formally designate criminal factions as "shared threats" and make them targets of sanctions.

The Brazilian factions Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV) are among the 24 groups cited as targets of the proposal.

"Now, yes, we are under threat. You see, this issue of the Shield of the Americas puts Brazil under siege, surrounded based on a false argument, which is to treat the issue of organized crime as if it were international terrorism. [...] In reality, it is a scheme of absolute domination", declared Amorim.

President Lula's direct assistants claim that the "Shield of the Americas" measure was "very serious", representing a "gateway" for military actions in the region, similar to what happened in Venezuela and Colombia.

For members of Palácio do Planalto, countries in the region want, in general, to maintain a good relationship with Brazil, but, for different reasons, they decided to support the American government's initiative.

This is because, they say, while Milei, Bukele and Espriella signed the document out of automatic alignment with Trump, countries such as Ecuador, Paraguay and Panama participated due to political strategy, such as seeking financial resources and avoiding American military actions in their territories.

This year, the Trump administration decided to classify the PCC and CV factions as terrorist organizations, which was criticized by members of the Lula government, who argued that the "labeling" does not solve the problem of organized crime.