The 14 member countries of the Shield of the Americas, a group of far-right rulers in Latin America organized by Donald Trump, signed an agreement this Tuesday (22) that considers 24 drug trafficking factions as “shared threats”, making them targets of joint sanctions. The Brazilian criminal groups Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV) are among those mentioned.
The agreement is yet another attempt at interference by the United States over the continent, in addition to configuring itself as a siege for the Brazilian government and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, point out the experts interviewed by the Brazil in fact.
“Recognizing that an immediate and universally shared threat in our hemisphere is that posed by transnational narco-terrorism organizations — which endanger the peace and security of the hemisphere, as well as the safety and prosperity of our citizens — today we announce the first joint action under our recently announced pillars: individual and collective action to confront the scourge of narco-terrorism,” says the document released by the United States Department of State.
“It’s a way to [Trump] create the continental police, which they never had, which the United States never managed to implement”, points out the professor of International Relations at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC), Gilberto Maringoni. On at least three occasions, the United States created mechanisms to guarantee dominance over Latin America. With the Monroe Doctrine, created in 1823, which established an “alliance” against European colonization and which was reissued as the “Roosevelt Corollary” by Theodore Roosevelt, at the beginning of the century 20, to protect the continent from the “communist threat”. In 1947, the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR) was signed, which was based on the “doctrine of hemispheric defense”, but which was never implemented.
“Then the enemy was communism. Now it’s narcoterrorism. You invent an enemy, you invent a scarecrow to be able to intervene in any situation”, explains Maringoni, remembering that, in his speech this Tuesday at the United Nations, President Donald Trump called narcoterrorism the “Islamic State of the Western Hemisphere”.
“This is yet another initiative to siege the Brazilian reality, to siege President Lula’s government, which began with the reformulation of United States foreign policy, with the return of Trump”, warns professor at the Catholic University of Brasília (UCB) and the University of São Paulo (USP) Gustavo Menon, remembering that this measure is added to others, such as tariffs, in which Trump tries to interfere in Brazilian politics by increasing import taxes on national products.
In this sense, Menon highlights the role of the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, “who behaves like a true hemispheric sheriff”, making Latin America “a kind of backyard of American interests”.
The measure is in line with President Lula’s speech at the opening of the UN General Assembly, when he argued that Brazil “does not underestimate the challenge posed by organized crime”, but that it does not intend to “outsource the responsibility” of protecting citizens. “Brazil doesn’t fit in anyone’s backyard,” added Lula.
What does the agreement say
According to the document signed by the countries, the intention is to impose “the freezing of assets; immigration and visa restrictions for members, associates and supporters of these organizations; and the criminal liability of individuals who knowingly provide material support — including logistical support — to such organizations, among other measures.”
The agreement names 24 organizations. In addition to the PCC and Comando Vermelho, groups such as Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Sinaloa Cartel, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Clan do Golfo, National Liberation Army (ELN), Sendero Luminoso and Trem de Aragua are on the list. The latter was the group cited to justify the kidnapping of the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who has been imprisoned in the United States since January, even after the country’s courts confirmed that there is no evidence of Maduro’s connection to the group.
The statement was released by the US Department of State in conjunction with the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago.
The Shield of the Americas was announced by Trump on March 7, during a summit held at his private golf course in Doral (Florida), as “a new security initiative for the Western Hemisphere” to combat cartels, transnational “gangs” and irregular migration.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
