The fifth anniversary of the shooting at a convenience store in El Paso, a city on the Texas border with Mexico, is being commemorated this Saturday to remember the fifty victims of the worst racist attack against the Latino community committed in the United States and amid an increase in anti-immigrant rhetoric, according to activists.

The massacre, which claimed the lives of 23 people and left 22 injured, was perpetrated by Patrick Crusius on the morning of August 3, 2019 at a Walmart store.

Crusius, then 21, drove more than 1,100 kilometers to the site of the massacre because he allegedly “wanted to kill as many Mexicans as possible.”

In total, 22 of the 23 people who died were of Latin origin, 9 of them Mexican citizens.

Among the many events scheduled for today, the city will inaugurate a new monument created by artist Albert ‘Tino’ Ortega to remember the victims of the tragedy, which left a wound in the community that has not yet been healed.

Local and national leaders who track white nationalism and immigration-based conspiracies warned on a call with reporters that five years after the massacre, there is a “lack of progress in addressing the continued spread and pervasiveness of the same types of dangerous conspiracies and misinformation that motivated the shooter.”

Prior to the shooting, Crusius posted an online article saying the shooting was his response to the “Hispanic invasion of Texas,” echoing the “great replacement” conspiracy theory promoted by white supremacists.

In this regard, Fernando García, director of the Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR) warned that the conditions that led to the attack “prevail today, even more than five years ago.”

“We must continue to speak out and remember that what happened on August 3, 2019 was not a circumstantial event; it was the result of systemic problems in our nation and the calls of white supremacy, hate and xenophobia,” the activist added.

For Zachary Mueller, research director at America’s Voice, “in the five years since the attack, the normalization of the bigoted conspiracy that inspired it has only become more common.”

The researcher cited responses given by former President Donald Trump this week during the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago, where the Republican again used the “invasion” conspiracy saying that immigrants were coming after African-American jobs.

Elizabeth Yates, a researcher at Human Rights First, reiterated the organizations’ call to Congress and other leaders “to stop perpetuating these extremist conspiracy theories and to hold those who do accountable.”

Calls for greater regulation were also made by the Mexican government.

Last Wednesday, the Mexican consulate in El Paso paid tribute to the victims of the massacre and reiterated the condemnation of the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador of hate speech, xenophobia, white supremacy and all forms of violence, with the aim of preventing future hate crimes against the Mexican and Latino community in the United States, they said in a statement.

“Strongly denouncing hate speech, racism, xenophobia and white supremacy is essential to prevent violent actions such as this tragedy from happening again,” said the Consul General of Mexico in El Paso, Mauricio Ibarra Ponce de León, at an event attended by El Paso Mayor Oscar Lesser and El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego.

Crusius was sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms for the attack last July after pleading guilty to 90 federal counts of murder and hate crimes, in exchange for which the U.S. government did not seek the death penalty.

The confessed killer is still awaiting prosecution in the state of Texas for the massacre, where he could be sentenced to capital punishment. EFE