“The truth is, working people do not only struggle on May Day. We live it every day. And that’s why we organize every day.”
These were the opening words of La Union del Pueblo Entero’s Executive Director and President Tania Chavez Camacho at the inaugural Marcha Del Pueblo event on May 2.
Marcha Del Pueblo was the first-ever May Day action co-hosted by a Rio Grande Valley non-profit organizations, unions, and labor councils. The goal – to reach workers across South Texas to join in solidarity, making demands to invest in communities, promote democracy, and prioritize the welfare of the people who call RGV home.
Since December of 2025, host organizations started planning this May Day action with the hope of pulling bases and new members to support and organize in their lines of work. Host organizations included LUPE, Texas Rising, RGV American Federation of Teachers, RGV Central Labor Council, South Texans for Reproducive Justice, RGV Democratic Socialists of America, and Poder Latinx.
Marcha Del Pueblo was hosted in the city of Edinburg, Texas, which neighbors the Hidalgo County Courthouse. The event kicked off with a rally of speeches by staff and members of all the organizations at Edinburg City Hall Courtyard, followed by a march around the courthouse and ending with a Pueblo Block party with workshops, art, and Know-Your-Rights kit building at a local coffee shop.
The Marcha was about one mile long, welcoming people of all ages and backgrounds to carry art, posters, banners, and flags with a variety of messaging on behalf of their organization. Chants and songs were heard as people made their way around the courthouse. Cars stopped, rolled their windows down to show their fists up in the air as a sign of solidarity.
Each step and each chant was a reminder that the only way forward is together, as a Pueblo. Our collective power is what feeds us and moves us toward change. As working families and individuals of the Rio Grande Valley, it is our responsibility to engage, organize and create change.
In that same spirit, LUPE member Enrique Muñoz took on the microphone to share some words of encouragement. Muñoz recently filed for citizenship through our social services department. In September of last year, he celebrated receiving his citizenship and his newest right – the right to vote.
“I wanted to become a citizen so that I could demand my civil rights, which have recently been affected,” Muñoz said. “We need to raise our voices and demand that officials and politicians fulfill the promises they make to us during their campaigns.”
As members of the crowd cheered the newbie citizen, Enrique shared his personal experience participating in a voter caravan hosted by LUPE Votes, the organization’s political arm.
“In February of this year, I joined a voting caravan to exercise my right to vote for the first time. I felt a deep sense of satisfaction, because I know that this will contribute to achieving better representation in the future,” Muñoz said. “We must all do our part.”
As applause, chanting, and music prepared folks to take off for the march. The words of Tania Chavez Camacho rang in the air.
“Democracy in Texas is built or dismantled through our civic participation. So today, we’re not just marching. We’re moving towards a working-class democracy – where the people who feed us, build our homes, care for our family, and raise our children shape the decisions that affect our lives.
“Today, we march for the Rio Grande Valley,” Chavez Camacho said. “We march for dignity, justice, and the power of the working people.”
