Two decades have passed since the coordinated assaults by the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) brought São Paulo to a standstill, yet the overwhelming majority of the 564 murders recorded between 12 and 20 May 2006 remain unpunished. Viewed from Brasília, the anniversary serves as a bleak milestone in Brazil’s struggle with organised crime and state violence. The attacks, triggered by the transfer of PCC leaders to a high-security prison, targeted police stations, banks, buses and public buildings, leaving officers dead in ambushes before a brutal state reaction followed. Today, according to the Mães de Maio movement, which emerged from the tragedy, only a fraction of the homicides have resulted in indictments or convictions, and the few remaining appeals in Brazilian courts offer scant hope of accountability.

That pattern of impunity is not confined to Brazil. Across Latin America, a weekend of carnage in Mexico this May underscored how institutional failure perpetuates violence. The state of Sinaloa recorded 14 homicides between 8 and 10 May, concentrated in Culiacán and Navolato, alongside a feminicide and multiple kidnappings. Meanwhile, Mexico City suffered its deadliest Mother’s Day on record, with nine murders on that Sunday alone; nationwide, 146 people were killed over the three days, with Guanajuato, Tabasco and Baja California also reporting double-digit tolls. Analysts in Mexico City note that the geographic dispersal of the killings — from the capital to the Pacific coast — mirrors the fragmented nature of cartel competition and the state’s inability to assert control.

The roots of this enduring crisis, experts argue, lie in a security apparatus unchanged since the military dictatorships. Débora Maria da Silva, founder of Mães de Maio, whose son was shot dead in the 2006 attacks, contends that the same modus operandi persists: police-led massacres such as those in Carandiru, Jacarezinho and Curió share a pattern of disproportionate lethal force and subsequent cover-ups. Her movement has proposed new legislation to curb police violence, seeking to transform grief into structural reform. From a London perspective, the continuity is striking: the Brazilian state has failed to break with its authoritarian past, while Mexico’s fragmented cartel landscape ensures that each weekend’s bloodshed is met with routine official statements rather than systemic change.

Looking ahead, the question is whether the 20-year mark will galvanise action or merely pass as another grim anniversary. The impunity in São Paulo suggests that without independent oversight and a shift from reactive policing to community-based prevention, the cycle will repeat. In Mexico, the coincidence of Mother’s Day violence and the Sinaloa homicides underscores that no corner of the country is safe. For the Mães de Maio and their counterparts across the region, the fight for memory and justice remains as urgent as it was two decades ago — and as apparently intractable.