EXCLUSIVE: Brazil could join the U.S.-led effort to combat drug cartels if presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro wins the country’s Oct.25 runoff election, according to his brother, Brazilian politician Eduardo Bolsonaro.The initiative, known as the Shield of the Americas, is designed to expand security cooperation among countries in the Western Hemisphere, including intelligence sharing, military coordination and joint efforts to disrupt cartel financing.The coalition follows the Trump administration’s decision in February 2025 to designate eight major criminal organizations as both Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
The groups include Tren de Aragua, MS-13, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Northeast Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, La Nueva Familia Michoacana and Carteles Unidos. LATIN AMERICA’S CONSERVATIVE SHIFT FACES ITS BIGGEST TEST YET IN BRAZIL ELECTIONA supporter raises a Brazilian flag next to a U.S.flag during a campaign rally for opposition presidential candidate Sen.
Flavio Bolsonaro in São Paulo, Brazil, on Oct.18, 2026. (Andre Penner/AP Photo)"The main thing that we need to do is fight the cartels," Eduardo Bolsonaro told Fox News Digital.
"They work together in a lot of countries, so we should fight back then."Brazil has not joined the initiative under left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.Eduardo Bolsonaro said that if his brother’s conservative Liberal Party wins the presidency, Brazil would work with the Trump administration to combat the country’s powerful criminal organizations.‘DONROE’ DOCTRINE AND CONSERVATIVE VICTORIES SQUEEZE CARTELS IN LATIN AMERICA"So I’m sure that, under the leadership of President Trump and the Shield of the Americas, we have the opportunity for the first time" to work together against the cartels, Eduardo Bolsonaro said.Brazil’s presidential runoff will pit Flávio Bolsonaro against Lula after Bolsonaro led Lula in the first...