The United States and 14 Latin American and Caribbean governments signed a joint declaration called the Shield of the Americas on 22 September 2026, designating 24 criminal groups as narcoterrorists, including Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC, and Comando Vermelho. Brazil and Mexico were not among the signatories.
The paperwork came down from above. President Donald Trump asked for it, and the declaration followed that request, turning a political demand into a regional instrument of control that reaches across borders and into the lives of people tied to the listed groups, whether by force, proximity, or accusation.
The declaration foresees asset freezes, immigration and visa restrictions, and criminal liability for anyone who gives the listed groups material support. That’s the machinery. Money gets locked up, movement gets restricted, and the threat of prosecution hangs over anyone the authorities decide has helped the named organizations. The language of security does the usual work: it gives states a cleaner vocabulary for coercion.
Who Holds the Pen
The United States and 14 Latin American and Caribbean governments signed the declaration together, but Brazil and Mexico stayed out. That absence matters. The move still named Brazilian groups while leaving Brazil itself outside the signatory circle, a neat little reminder that power doesn’t need consent to make a mess of someone else’s house.
The declaration named 24 criminal groups as narcoterrorists. Among them were Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC, and Comando Vermelho. Those names landed in a political shock in Brazil, where the report said the country was treated as a problem, not a partner. That’s the hierarchy in plain sight: decisions made in one set of capitals, consequences dumped on people elsewhere.
What the State Calls Order
The declaration foresees asset freezes, immigration and visa restrictions, and criminal liability for anyone who gives the listed groups material support. Those measures don’t just target the named groups. They widen the net. They create more reasons for officials to police movement, money, and association, all under the banner of fighting narcoterrorism.
The report described the mood in Brazil as defensive. No surprise there. When outside governments label groups inside your country and then build penalties around that label, the message isn’t subtle. It’s a warning shot wrapped in diplomatic language.
The People Left Out
Brazil and Mexico were not among the signatories, even though the declaration named Brazilian groups. That split tells its own story. The states most affected by the consequences weren’t all in the room, but the apparatus still moved ahead. Consent, in this setup, is optional when the bigger powers decide the script.
The same report also said Rio lost the writer Zuenir Ventura at 95. It said he wrote “1968: O Ano que Não Terminou” and sat in the Brazilian Academy of Letters, which said his wake would be held in Rio on Wednesday 23 September 2026. Even that detail sits beside the larger machinery of the day: one more reminder that while governments sign declarations and sort people into threat categories, ordinary lives and cultural memory keep moving through the wreckage.
The Shield of the Americas declaration was issued on 22 September 2026. It named 24 criminal groups as narcoterrorists. It followed a request from President Donald Trump. And it set out asset freezes, immigration and visa restrictions, and criminal liability as the tools of choice.