Government leader in the Senate says that PL Antifaction only passes without an electoral dispute

The leader of the government in the Senate, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA), said this Monday, 17th, that there is no agreement with the Chamber of Deputies on the anti-faction bill. The project is on this week’s agenda in the Chamber and, if approved, will require the approval of the Senate.

“There really isn’t (an agreement). Not that I participated, no. Especially because it’s a true walking metamorphosis. In my opinion, the best project will come out at a time when people, we in the political class, don’t want to use it as an element of electoral dispute. As long as it becomes an electoral dispute, it’s difficult to leave,” declared the senator at Palácio do Planalto.

Wagner said he will meet in the coming days with the Minister of Institutional Relations, Gleisi Hoffmann, and the government leader in the Chamber, José Guimarães (PT-CE), to discuss the issue. He also defended that the original text sent by the government be used, not the modified text of the rapporteur, Guilherme Derrite (PP-SP).

“The text that was sent is a balanced text. It is a text that really calls out everyone’s composition. We need to stop selling an illusion. If you want to get tougher with the factions, and you have to get tougher with the factions, you don’t need to be characterized as a terrorist”, he stated.

The wording of the anti-faction project is still subject to dispute between supporters of the PT, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT); and the PL, by former president Jair Bolsonaro, to find out which version will prevail if the text is approved and sent to the Senate.

The Palácio do Planalto pressured Derrite, public security secretary under temporary leave from the Tarcísio de Freitas (Republican) government in São Paulo, to contain changes to the initial project.

Against the wishes of PT members, in the first version, Derrite changed the text and decided that criminal organizations would be equivalent to the crime of terrorism. He ended up backtracking in a subsequent version – the government continued with complaints.

What is the Antifaction PL

The Anti-Faction Bill is a proposal authored by the federal government, signed by President Lula, whose objective is to strengthen the fight against criminal organizations in Brazil, popularly known as factions, such as Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV).

The topic gained national prominence after the mega-operation carried out in Rio de Janeiro by order of governor Cláudio Castro (PL). The action, which culminated in the deaths of 121 people, including four police officers, became the deadliest operation in the state’s history. In total, 99 people were arrested, but none of the main targets were captured. Among the fugitives is Edgar Alves de Andrade, “Doca”, identified as one of the leaders of Comando Vermelho.

The federal government’s project proposes a series of changes, including:

Update of the Criminal Organizations Law, introducing the concept of “criminal faction”, which is still non-existent in the legislation, which would allow sentences to be increased to up to 30 years, including in cases of territorial control exercised by armed groups;

Strengthening the investigative power of the police, with investments in techniques for infiltrating agents into factions;

Stifling of organizations’ revenue sources, facilitating the seizure of assets, judicial intervention in companies used for crimes and the blocking of financial operations;

Reduction in the communication capacity of factions, with monitoring of meetings in parliaments and authorization for the prison administration to transfer prisoners linked to factions without the need for a prior court order;

Preventing the infiltration of factions in public power, including the removal of suspected public agents, upon judicial authorization;

Creation of a National Bank of Criminal Organizations, gathering strategic information on members of groups such as the PCC and CV.

In addition to the Antifaction project, the Antiterrorism PL (1,283/2025), authored by deputy Danilo Forte (União-CE), is being processed in Congress, which seeks to classify criminal factions as terrorist organizations. The Executive’s project is seen as a response to the opposition’s proposal, which until recently dominated the public debate.

Governors such as Tarcísio and Castro defend the classification of factions as terrorists, arguing that this would reinforce the fight against organized crime. On the other hand, researchers warn that the measure may be low in effectiveness and generate unwanted side effects, including in the financial market.