Update: La Onda performer Pepe Aguilar speaks during concert after Grupo Firme withdraws

Later on La Onda’s first day, however, the charged state of U.S.-Mexico relations – and anxieties over President Trump’s push for large-scale deportations – appeared to bubble up during a concert by one of the festival’s prime attractions: Pepe Aguilar, the nine-time Grammy and Latin Grammy award winner.

“Music is a universal language – doesn’t matter the color of your skin. Music connects,” Aguilar said in Spanish during his early-evening set of the festival’s main stage.

Then he added: “I’m not trying to make a political statement; this is just advice everyone can use. I have only the utmost respect for the president and how he is running everything.”

Afterward, one of Aguilar’s spectators believed that Aguilar’s use of the word “respect” dealt only with his awareness of the president’s powers – and his administration’s recent visa refusals to several Mexican performers – not any affinity for him.

“I think he respects the authority that the president has, not necessarily him as a person,” said Marisa Buenrostro of Berkeley. “And his understanding that the power that a president has, specifically under the circumstances and pretexts, that he's been abusing that power and manipulating it like no other.”

Buenrostro was speaking a day after Grupo Firme announced the cancellation of its planned La Onda concert Sunday night after its inability to gain U.S. visas.

The bands’ exclusion from the country “sends a message to the population, which is, what, 40% Latino in California alone, that our community is not supported, that we (are not) to be celebrated in any way,” she said.

Meanwhile, Maria Chavez of Santa Rosa, who was attending La Onda with her husband, found Aguilar’s plea for understanding through music “inspiring, absolutely inspiring.”

“I just feel like these kinds of music kind of keeps the love, you know, and the momentum of ‘They're still, they're still good in here,’” she said. “I mean, what can we do? You know, but just stay positive. That's all I can say. We're good people, you know?”

Earlier in the day, little anxiety or unease was apparent as the festival began.

La Onda’s early afternoon arrivals young and old sported cowboy hats and boots, rhinestone-dotted denim and festival fringe as they sipped Tajin-rimmed margaritas and frosty Modelo and sang along to a stacked lineup of regional Mexican artists. State and local police and security stood scattered among the throngs packing the Napa Valley Expo.

“It's a vibe. I've been here for two hours, and I haven't looked at an artist, but I'm having a good time,” said Danny Vargas.

The 25-year-old Napa resident held two Modelos but said wasn’t worried about law enforcement in any capacity — immigration or otherwise. He and his friends weren’t driving after imbibing; they planned to Uber home later.

Laughing with Vargas not far from the merchandise tent, a 20-something woman wearing a royal blue tube top and winged black eyeliner said she felt comfortable with local law enforcement and wasn’t worried about any federal action. “This is Napa County,” she said as Vargas and others nodded in agreement.

Back near the bar, a 25-year-old man stood in line wearing a crisp white shirt and sporting a freshly edged beard. “I just feel like, if you’re worried, you don’t come to La Onda fest,” the Bay Area native said. “I don’t think (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) would target La Onda. They’re targeting schools and workplaces. They’re not targeting people having fun.”

Because the Napa Valley Expo that hosts La Onda is state property, law enforcement is provided by the California Highway Patrol in concert with Napa city police and the Napa County Sheriff's Office.

According to sheriff's spokesperson Henry Wofford, the Napa unit treats La Onda the same as it treats every other weekend festival.

“We don’t want anyone to feel targeted,” he said. “We want you to come to Napa County and not feel hassled.”

Wofford said law enforcement officers’ focus is on protecting the community, and he stressed CHP does not work with ICE, in accordance with California law. In 2017, the state Legislature passed Senate Bill 54, the California Values Act, prohibiting local law enforcement from using its resources for immigration enforcement, with limited exceptions.

Other La Onda attendees said they felt the crowd was subdued, perhaps because of the political climate. Luis Ledesma works construction in Napa County and said he feels a sense of heightened anxiety in other people.

“Normally this festival would be to have a good time with your family and friends, but you can tell that people are still on edge a little bit,” Ledesma said. “They obviously want to go drink and whatnot, but they are still holding back a little bit because of what could happen after this festival.”

Ledesma and his co-worker Jorge Navarro were more upset about Grupo Firme’s absence and how they felt that La Onda's production company, Latitude 38 Entertainment, handled the cancellation.

“Obviously, (Grupo Firme) has issues with the Trump administration, said Ledesma. "I'm not sure exactly what's causing these delays. But for me, on my end, I just want to understand the transparency of what's going on, especially as someone who's buying an expensive ticket to come here.” (Admission to this year's La Onda ranged from $218 for general admission to as much as $3,618 for a Platinum pass.)

This is not the first time Grupo Firme has faced visa approval issues. The group was set to perform at Chicago’s annual Michelada Fest July 19 and 20, but organizers canceled the entire event in early May. In a statement posted to the festival's Instagram account, organizers said they scrapped this year's festival “because of the uncertainty around artist visas and the shifting political climate.”

Ledesma questioned whether La Onda organizers knew for the last three weeks that Grupo Firme wouldn’t be able to perform in Napa but chose to keep that announcement under wraps in order to keep selling tickets.

Latitude 38 had not responded to a request for comment as of late Saturday night.

Grupo Firme’s absence left behind major disappointment for some of La Onda’s fans.

A devoted Grupo Firme fan, Amelia Hernandez has traveled up and down California to see the group, making trips to Oakland, San Jose and Los Angeles. She’d been waiting since November to see them in Napa, and was devastated when the group announced its withdrawal Friday.

Her friend Dianna Cruz said Hernandez called La Onda to ask for their money back. “‘We can't do that,’” she said organizers told Hernandez, “‘but you could come today for free.’ So that's why we came.”

That wasn’t the only message Hernandez sent Cruz.

“She texted me, ‘(Expletive) Trump,’” Cruz said.

The band’s cancellation also left behind a sour taste for another spectator who had made the trip from Sacramento for La Onda.

“I mean, a lot of people were looking forward to seeing Grupo Firme, but now we can’t, and it messed up the whole schedule,” said the woman, who identified herself only as Diana. “A lot of people were expecting him today, and it just makes us a lot of commotion and a lot of disappointment (in) the community.”

Media reports indicated the last-minute pull-out of the Tijuana-based Grupo Firme could be the latest in a series of concert cancellations affecting performers of narcocorridos, songs detailing – and, critics say, glorifying as Robin Hood-like rebels – the exploits of Mexican drug traffickers and underworld figures.

Grupo Firme’s repertoire has included narcocorridos such as “Se fue la pantera,” referencing the late Sinaloa cartel operative Jesús Esteban Espinoza Velázquez, and “El Narco de Narcos” about Rafael Caro Quintero, a founder of the former Guadalajara cartel.

In April, Grupo Firme announced it would distance itself from the narcocorrido genre and stated that such songs they have previously performed were “fictional” in nature. The group later said on social media it would abide by bans passed by some Mexican state governments against public expressions – including musical ones – glorifying criminals.

But Cruz and Hernandez questioned that logic because, as their friend pointed out, “rock music is a lot about the devil too, and that’s never a problem.”

Cruz nodded. “Also, even in Mexico, they’re not even singing those songs,” she said.

Grupo Firme vocalist Eduin Caz said much the same earlier this spring.

“Reality isn’t something that moves me much,” Caz said during the band's Mexico City news conference, according to the Parriva website. “We’re more guided by love and heartbreak.”

With reports from Napa Valley Register correspondent Lily Dominguez and Register city editor Howard Yune.