by Brad Haynes
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – The U.S. government is concerned about links between Brazil’s biggest drug trafficking ring and illegal gold mining in the Amazon rainforest, a U.S. Treasury official said on Wednesday after meetings with Brazilian security authorities and civil society.
Brian Nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Treasury, said he had received alarming information about connections between the First Capital Command (PCC) and gold miners operating in the Amazon.
US President Joe Biden in December imposed financial sanctions on the PCC, which was born in São Paulo prisons in the early 1990s and is now the country’s most powerful criminal organization, helping to flood Europe with cocaine.
Nelson said his meetings in Brasília and São Paulo had raised concerns that the PCC could also be involved in environmental crimes, such as illegal gold mining.
“We are focused on illegal gold mining… because it can both generate funds for other illicit activities, given the value of gold, and provide a means to launder illicit drug trafficking proceeds,” he told reporters.
Nelson said he also discussed with Brazilian officials a proposed cap on the price of Russian oil as part of a Western response to the invasion of Ukraine.
He did not comment on the Brazilian government’s view of the proposal, but said “technical discussions” would continue. Brazil is a net oil exporter with few direct connections to the Russian energy sector.
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