May 5 may fall on a Monday in 2025, but that’s not stopping El Movimiento Sigue from celebrating Cinco de Mayo that day.
The local organization is hosting the 55th annual Pueblo Cinco de Mayo celebration at Ray Aguilera Park, 843 W. Northern Ave., from noon to 7 p.m. with guest speakers, a food drive, food trucks, a low rider show, musical performances, resource booths, vendors and more.
In addition to being a longstanding celebration of Chicano culture, the Cinco de Mayo celebration hosted by El Movimiento Sigue is well attended. Last year’s event attracted almost 6,000 attendees, according to El Movimiento Sigue’s website.
“We do celebrate Cinco de Mayo on the day every single year,” said José Ortega, executive director of El Movimiento Sigue. “It’s never the day before or after. It’s never the weekend before. That’s just to make sure that we do have our day of culture, and that it’s consistent every year.”
What is Cinco de Mayo?
Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day. It is an annual celebration of Mexico’s victory in the Battle of Puebla. On May 5, 1862, Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza led his army to defeat much larger, occupying French forces. For Ortega and many others, Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of victory over oppression.
Fighting against oppression is central to the mission of El Movimiento Sigue — an organization that emerged from the Chicano Movement for civil rights.
“We want to make sure that El Movimiento Sigue is not only in the community, but also has a seat at the table where decisions are being made for the city of Pueblo and for our Chicano people,” Ortega told the Chieftain.
Executive Director of El Movimiento Sigue Jose Ortega speaks to the crowd during the annual Cinco de Mayo celebration at Ray Aguilera Park on Friday, May 5, 2023.
Los Mocochetes to headline musical performances
Los Mocochetes, a five-member band from Denver, will visit Pueblo to perform at the annual Cinco de Mayo celebration. Joshua Abeyta, a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist in the band, told the Chieftain that Los Mocochetes has coined the term “Chicano Funk” to describe their sound.
“We’re not limited to funk music or what they call Latin grooves but its a nice mix of rock, cumbias, we play some rancheras, we play a little bit of reggae, there’s some hip hop elements to it and all five of the members are all songwriters and vocalists,” he said.
Los Mocochetes
With his bandmates Diego Florez, Jozer Guerrero, Jon Rubio and Elias Garcia, Abeyta writes and performs songs that address topics like the plight of undocumented immigrants, colonization, gentrification and racism.
“You can kind of think of anything in terms of a human rights perspective, it’s something that we support, and we support all people being able to live and love freely as long as they’re not harming anyone,” Abeyta told the Chieftain.
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Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to the Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Why do we celebrate Cinco de Mayo? Here’s what to know