Brazil announces US partnership to intercept weapons, drug trafficking

President Lula’s government said it has seized 1,168 illicit arms imported from the US in the last 12 months alone.Brazil’s Finance Minister Dario Durigan speaks next to the Brazilian Federal Police director-general Andrei Rodrigues in Brasilia, Brazil, on April 10 [AFP]Published On 10 Apr 2026The Brazilian government has announced a new security partnership with the United States to combat criminal networks, as well as the illicit traffic of drugs and weapons.In a social media post on Friday, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called the deal a breakthrough.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Brazil’s jailed ex-president Bolsonaro hospitalised with lung infectionlist 2 of 3At least eight killed as Brazilian police carry out lethal favela raidlist 3 of 3Brazil’s president criticises the US for thinking ‘they own the world’end of list“Brazil and the United States today established unprecedented cooperation between the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service and US Customs,” he wrote on social media.“We will intensify the fight against international arms and drug trafficking through concrete actions.”Some of those “concrete actions”, he said, will include “real-time data sharing, rigorous cargo tracking and joint operations to intercept illicit shipments”.Separately, a statement from the Brazilian Revenue Service said the deal would result in the “continuous flow of information from US authorities to their Brazilian counterparts”.The operation, according to Lula’s government, will be called the DESARMA programme.Brazil’s Finance Minister Dario Durigan hailed the collaboration with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as an “important step in strengthening international cooperation” against crime.“This initiative will integrate intelligence and joint operations to intercept arms and narcotics trafficking, thereby reinforcing security and coordinated action between the two countries,” he said on social media.Friday’s deal is the latest collaboration inked between the administration of US President Donald Trump and a government in Latin America.Trump has been on a campaign to crack down on criminal networks throughout the Western Hemisphere, and he has reached out to regional right-wing governments to join his “Shield of the Americas” coalition.But left-wing leaders like Lula were absent from a March summit kicking off the “Shield of the Americas”.Still, the Trump administration has pressured governments like Lula’s to take more “aggressive” action towards crime, including through military deployments.For his part, Lula has sought to limit the illicit flow of US weapons across its borders.In announcing the DESARMA initiative, the Brazilian government revealed that, in the last 12 months alone, it had seized 1,168 illegally imported arms and weapons parts, mainly sent from the US state of Florida.Those weapons largely end up in the hands of criminal networks, according to the government.Differing approachesBut Trump and Lula have been at loggerheads in recent months over how best to address crime in the Americas.Since returning to office in January 2025, Trump has taken a hardline approach, labelling multiple Latin American gangs and cartels as “foreign terrorist organisations”, a designation that had traditionally been reserved for armed groups with political aims, like al-Qaeda.He has used such labels as justification to carry out deadly attacks in the name of national security.Since September 2, the US has conducted at least 47 lethal strikes on maritime vessels travelling in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, in what legal experts condemn as extrajudicial killings.At least 147 people have died, their identities never publicly confirmed.The Trump administration has also carried out what it described as a “joint military and law enforcement raid” in Venezuela on January 3, in the name of confronting drug trafficking.The operation culminated in dozens of deaths, all either Cuban or Venezuelan, as well as the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. They currently await trial in New York on drug-trafficking and weapons possession charges.The Trump administration has reportedly argued that it is in “armed conflict” with Latin American criminal networks, whom it considers “unlawful combatants”.While Lula’s government has taken action against such networks within Brazil, it has called on the Trump administration not to use the “foreign terrorist” label for entities within its borders.In recent months, for instance, reports have emerged that Trump is considering designating two Brazilian criminal networks: the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and the Comando Vermelho (CV).But in an interview on March 25 with the Brazilian news organisation G1, Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said he conveyed his opposition directly to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.“I spoke on the phone with Secretary Marco Rubio and told him that the Brazilian government is against this classification,” Vieira said.Lula himself has repeatedly called on the Trump administration to respect the sovereignty of Latin American countries, including his own.“Brazil is a sovereign nation with independent institutions and will not accept any form of tutelage,” Lula posted last year after Trump threatened the country with steep tariffs, in protest against the prosecution of former right-wing leader Jair Bolsonaro.Lula is expected to travel to Washington, DC, in the coming months to visit Trump.