Participants march during a past César Chávez march in Corpus Christi. The 25th annual event planned for March 28 was canceled.
Courtesy Nancy Vera
Participants march during a past César Chávez march in Corpus Christi. The 25th annual event planned for March 28 was canceled.
Courtesy Nancy Vera
The annual César Chávez march in Corpus Christi has been canceled after rumors about the late labor leader’s legacy spread and civil rights icon Dolores Huerta withdrew from the event, the Express-News has learned.
The move mirrors a similar cancellation in San Antonio, where organizers earlier this month called off the city’s César E. Chávez March for Justice, citing a “sensitive matter” involving Chávez without providing further details.
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The César Chávez Foundation and the Dolores Huerta Foundation have not responded to requests for comment.
READ MORE: San Antonio’s César Chávez March for Justice canceled due to ‘sensitive matter’
The march in Corpus Christi would have marked the 25th anniversary of the event in the Coastal Bend city, honoring Chávez, the civil rights leader who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Huerta and became one of the most influential labor organizers in the United States.
Founded in 1997, San Antonio’s César E. Chávez March for Justice has drawn thousands each year and would have marked its 30th anniversary this spring.
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In both San Antonio and Corpus Christi, march organizers said they acted after hearing rumors circulating within labor and activist networks that damaging information about Chávez could soon surface.
A memo sent to San Antonio City Council members and obtained by the Express-News said the cancellation involved a “sensitive matter,” but did not elaborate. A source with firsthand knowledge of the discussions told the Express-News that leaders of the California-based César Chávez Foundation warned city officials that negative information about Chávez’s past could soon be reported in a national news outlet.
No recent investigation or report about Chávez has been published.
The Corpus Christi march is organized locally and operates independently of the California-based César Chávez Foundation.
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Organizers in the city had planned a major celebration, Now they are scrambling to notify participants and unwind the event.
Nancy Vera, president of the Corpus Christi American Federation of Teachers and an organizer of the march, said she decided to cancel the event after hearing what she described as “sensitive information” circulating among labor activists and organizers.
“I said, ‘No, we can’t take a chance,’” Vera said Friday in an interview.
Vera announced the decision in a post to her personal Facebook page on Friday, writing: “CHAVEZ MARCHA CANCELLED. The Cesar Chavez March and Festivities in Corpus Christi set for March 28, 2026, have been cancelled.”
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She added that organizers had received information from “a trusted source” about “sensitive matters” involving Chávez that they believe will be published in a national newspaper article in April.
The Facebook event page promoting the march was later deleted, Vera said.
Huerta had been scheduled to appear as a featured guest, but about two weeks before the cancellation, her staff notified organizers in Corpus Christi that she would be unable to attend.
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Emails reviewed by the Express-News show a coordinator for the Dolores Huerta Foundation told Vera on Feb. 19 that Huerta had been double-booked for another conference.
“I regret to inform you that Dolores will no longer be able to attend this event,” the foundation wrote, explaining that Huerta had committed to a three-day conference that overlapped with the march.
Vera said Huerta’s withdrawal was disappointing but not the reason she ultimately canceled the march.
Instead, she said she grew concerned after hearing from people connected to the labor movement that a national news organization may soon publish an investigation involving Chávez.
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“I’m going on hearsay because I don’t know for sure,” she said. “I don’t know if there are allegations or rumors or what they are.”
The 2026 march had been planned as one of the largest in the event’s history, with organizers coordinating with city officials, labor unions, schools and community groups. Vera said the event was coordinated with Mayor Paulette Guajardo, local labor unions, LULAC and area schools, along with organizers of a nearby jazz festival who had offered use of their stage for the program.
Vera said she is contacting participants and partners to inform them that the event will not take place. Among those being notified were Tejano singer Bobby Pulido and actor Pepe Serna.
Vera said the cancellation has been difficult.
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“It is the only Latino civil rights commemoration we have,” Vera said. “He’s one of the only national Latino heroes we have.”
Still, she said she did not want the event to become overshadowed by controversy.
“If what we’re hearing is true, we don’t want to be associated with that in any form or fashion,” she said.
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Vera said organizers may instead plan a labor celebration on May 1, International Workers’ Day.