Local artists fuming after mural celebrating Cesar Chavez in Madera County painted over

MADERA, Calif. (KFSN) -- On the outskirts of Madera a controversy is brewing over the wall.

"It felt like they were covering us up and they were hiding our history," said Vicente Velazquez, Madera artist.

The wall is made of cinder block by Highway 99. On Friday, Cinco de Mayo, a group of artists painted a mural with the words 'Yes We Can' in Spanish to honor Cesar Chavez.

"Went online and started seeing posts of people saying the mural is gone the mural is buffed," said Velazquez.

"I was hoping to see it for a long time to come, but two days later it was gone," said Phillip Martin, artist.

The murals creator told us he wanted to remain anonymous but was baffled as to why his other work, the "Support Our Troops" mural, was left alone-- since both were painted without permission.

"Maybe they didn't like the message it sent, that this was a Hispanic town," said the artist.

No one has taken responsibility for erasing the artwork but the City of Madera is looking into claims that its workers may have done so.

"I think it would be great to have some answers from the city and from whoever took it down, as to why they only took this one down and not the one that has been up three years," said Martin.

The City Administrator said if its crews turn out to be the one's responsibility they would apologize for the mistake and invite the artists back to hopefully start over on a clean slate.