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Cesar Chavez, the enduring labor chief, is accused of sexually assaulting two under-aged women within the Seventies in addition to fellow farmworker chief Dolores Huerta within the Sixties, in accordance with an investigation from The New York Occasions.
The newspaper interviewed two girl who mentioned they had been sexually abused by Chavez — one repeatedly — once they had been kids.
“Each girls have struggled with melancholy, panic assaults and substance abuse within the years since. They maintained their silence for many years, fearing talking out would tarnish Mr. Chavez’s legacy, however determined in latest months, after being approached by reporters, that their tales additionally counted,” the paper reported.
Huerta informed the paper she was raped by Chavez in 1966.
“Mr. Chavez drove her out to a secluded grape area in Delano, Calif., parked and compelled her to have intercourse contained in the car. She mentioned she selected to not report the assault to the police due to their hostility towards the motion, and she or he feared that nobody inside the union would consider her,” the paper reported.
In an Instagram put up, Huerta mentioned for the final 60 years she’s stored this secret as a result of, “I believed that exposing the reality would damage the farmworker motion I’ve spent my complete life combating for.”
LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis, left, sits with activists Dolores Huerta, Rachel Kirk, and Reina Schmitz in the course of the California Democratic Get together State Conference on the Moscone Heart in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026.
(Christina Home/Los Angeles Occasions)
Huerta mentioned she skilled two separate sexual encounters with Chavez. The primary time she was, “manipulated and pressured into having intercourse with him,” she mentioned, and felt she couldn’t say something as a result of he was her boss and the chief “of the motion I had already devoted years of my life to.”
“The second time I used to be pressured, in opposition to my will, and in an setting the place I felt trapped,” her assertion mentioned. “I had skilled abuse and sexual violence earlier than, and I satisfied myself these had been incidents that I needed to endure alone and in secret.”
Huerta grew to become pregnant from each sexual encounters and later organized for the kids to be raised by different households.
“Through the years, I’ve been lucky to develop a deep relationship with these kids, who are actually near my different kids, their siblings,” the assertion mentioned. “However even then, nobody knew the total fact about how they had been conceived till only a few weeks in the past.”
The New York Occasions’ investigation discovered Chavez fathered 4 kids out of wedlock with three girls and that there had been “whispers inside the motion” for many years about his conduct.
The paper reported {that a} handful of Chavez’s kin and former farmworker leaders have been conscious of allegations of sexual misconduct for years however discovered no proof that they made any efforts to research the accusations in opposition to him or acknowledge the victims.
Huerta informed The New York Occasions, “the data that he damage younger women sickens me. My coronary heart aches for everybody who suffered alone and in silence for years.”
The revelations come a day after the United Farm Employees mentioned it might not take part in celebrations of Chavez attributable to “troubling allegations” in opposition to him.
The claims in opposition to Chavez “are incompatible with our group’s values. Among the stories are household points, and never our story to inform or our place to touch upon. Way more troubling are allegations involving abuse of younger girls or minors. Allegations that very younger girls or women could have been victimized are crushing. We now have not obtained any direct stories, and we don’t have any firsthand data of those allegations,” the union mentioned.
Tuesday morning, the Cesar Chavez Basis mentioned in an announcement that it had “turn into conscious of disturbing allegations that Cesar Chavez engaged in inappropriate sexual habits with girls and minors throughout his time as President of the United Farm Employees of America.”
The inspiration mentioned it was working with leaders within the farmworker motion to be responsive to those allegations and assist the individuals who might need been harmed.
Bursting into nationwide prominence within the mid-Sixties within the San Joaquin Valley, Chavez galvanized public assist on behalf of them after organizing group teams throughout Central and Southern California. For many years, agricultural laborers had lived in substandard housing and had been paid horrible wages. Efforts to arrange migrant laborers had been normally crushed violently by farmers and native legislation enforcement.
However Chavez’s legacy grew to become more and more tarnished because the years went on. Labor victories grew to become fewer and fewer. His fierce criticism of unlawful immigration — Chavez argued that they undercut his unionization efforts — put him at odds with immigration activists. A 2006 Occasions investigation detailed how dozens of former associates and staff left the UFW due to what they described as Chavez’s more and more autocratic methods.
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