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Brazil and the United States have formalized a joint security agreement aimed at dismantling international criminal networks and cutting off the flow of illegal weapons and drugs between the two countries.
Some shit you should know before you dig in: Brazil has been dealing with a serious problem of illegally imported US weapons ending up in the hands of criminal organizations. In the last 12 months alone, Brazilian authorities seized over 1,100 illegally imported firearms and weapons parts (the majority shipped from Florida). On the drug side, seizures at São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport jumped from 196 lbs in all of 2024 to over 3,300 lbs in just the first quarter of 2026. The flow doesn’t just run one way; Brazil has also been used as a transit point for cocaine heading toward the US and Europe, typically concealed in commercial shipping containers.
What’s going on now: Brazil’s Finance Minister Dario Durigan announced Friday that the two countries are launching Project MIT (short for Mutual Interdiction Team), a partnership between Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service and US Customs and Border Protection. A key piece of the initiative is a new program called DESARMA, which will enable real-time intelligence sharing between the two countries on shipments of US-origin weapons, ammunition, explosives, and related components. The system will also track serial numbers, cargo routes, and exporter profiles to map smuggling networks from their point of origin.
Durigan called it “an important step in strengthening international cooperation” against transnational crime.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva framed the deal as a direct result of ongoing dialogue between himself and Trump, saying the two countries had established “unprecedented cooperation” between their customs agencies. In a statement, Lula said the US and Brazil “will intensify the fight against international arms and drug trafficking through concrete actions.”
This all comes as Lula and Trump have had a rocky relationship over how to handle organized crime in Latin America. Trump has taken an aggressive approach across the region with lethal strikes on maritime vessels in the Caribbean, conducting a military raid in Venezuela, and pushing regional governments to join his “Shield of the Americas” coalition, a summit Lula declined to attend in March.
