American civil rights leader Dolores Huerta says Cesar Chavez sexually assaulted her in the 1960s.
Listen to this article
Average 4 minutes
The audio version of this article was created by AI-based technology. It can be mispronounced. We are working with our partners to continuously review and improve the results.
WARNING: This article contains information on sexual abuse and may concern those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone who has.
Human rights leader Dolores Huerta, who founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) union with Cesar Chavez and fought with him for decades to expand workers’ rights in the US, on Wednesday accused Chavez of sexually assaulting her in the 1960s.
Huerta said in a statement that he was speaking out because of a years-long New York Times investigation, also published Wednesday, that detailed a larger pattern of misconduct allegations against Chavez, who died in 1993 at the age of 66, including testimony from women who said he molested and raped them when they were young.
“I kept this a secret for a long time because building an organization and getting the rights of farm workers is a lifetime’s work,” said Huerta, 96, in a statement, explaining why he did not speak publicly about what happened before. “The establishment of a union was the only thing that would fulfill and secure those rights and I would not allow Cesar or anyone else to stand in the way.”
Huerta said she did not know that Chavez had harmed other women, and condemned his actions but reminded students that the farm workers movement is bigger than one person. “Cesar’s actions do not reflect the values of our society and him and our movement.”
The allegations detailed in the Times investigation prompted the UFW to cancel planned celebrations of Chavez, and other cities to cancel or rename events planned to honor the labor organizer. March 31, his birthday, is a national holiday in the US, marked in several states with marches, service programs and educational programs.
Prominent US Latino groups were quick to criticize Chavez on Wednesday. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus in a statement will support “renaming streets, post offices, ships and holidays with Chavez’s name to instead honor our community and the farm workers whose struggle defined the movement.”
Voto Latino, a Latino voter advocacy group, said in a statement that “Chavez’s evil actions cannot and must not erase the work of the thousands of women, men and families who make up the farm workers movement.”
Chavez gained international prominence for boycotts and hunger strikes to demand higher wages and better conditions for migrant workers who pick grapes and do other agricultural work.
Huerta said she had two sexual encounters with Chavez in the 1960s. For the first time, she said she was “tricked and pressured” into having sex with him and “I didn’t feel I could say no because he was someone I knew, my boss and the leader of the organization.”
The second time, Huerta said, she was forced to sleep with him “against my will, and in a place where I felt trapped.” Both encounters resulted in pregnancies that Huerta chose to keep secret, arranging for the children to be raised by other families.
The Cesar Chavez Foundation, which maintains memorials, including his California tomb, said it would work with the UFW to create private channels for those who may have been harmed by Chavez to share their experiences and seek support.
If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can check crisis lines and local services by using Completes the database of the Canadian Sexual Violence Association. .
