Huerta's Account
Dolores Huerta, the co-founder of the United Farm Workers, accused Cesar Chavez of sexual assault in an interview on the public radio show and podcast Latino USA. Huerta, who will turn 96 in April, told the New York Times that Chavez pressured her for sex on a work trip and later raped her in a parked car. She had been reluctant to come forward because of shock and fear of disbelief.
Other Allegations Against Chavez
A New York Times investigation uncovered evidence that Chavez groomed and sexually abused girls who worked in the movement. Two women, Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas, both now 66, allege they were repeatedly molested by Chavez, beginning when they were 12 and 13 years old. Esmeralda Lopez said that when she was 19, Chavez, then 61, offered to advance her career in exchange for sex. Lopez's mother, Cynthia Bell, also a longtime union organizer, shared her own account of having been sexually harassed by Chavez when she was in her early 20s.
Similarities in Accounts
Murguia and Rojas described similar patterns of conduct by Chavez. Both daughters of organizers, they had been raised to revere Chavez as a hero. Early in their adolescence, they were each summoned by Chavez to his office, where he initiated sexual abuse. Rojas says that when she was 15, Chavez arranged for her to travel with him from her home in La Paz to Stockton, California, for a UFW march. She alleges that Chavez took her to a motel and raped her. During the assault, she saw his gun on the nightstand; he told her he carried it for protection after receiving death threats. Murguia says that Chavez's sexual abuse of her did not include intercourse.
Rojas's Letter
The Times reviewed a letter that Rojas sent to Chavez in 1974, at the age of 13, in which she alternates between updates on her childhood friendships and bashful, childlike allusions to sexuality. Rojas told the Times that Chavez did his grooming very well. She and Murguia both trace subsequent mental health struggles to their experiences of childhood sexual abuse at Chavez's hands.
Reactions and Legacy
On March 19, a bust of Cesar Chavez was removed from César E Chávez Park in Denver, Colorado. The City of Los Angeles will rename Cesar Chavez Day as "Farm Workers Day" and untether it from Chavez's birthday. At Fresno State University, a statue of Chavez has been covered.
Chavez's Views on Immigration
Chavez used the pejorative term "wetbacks" to refer to people entering the U.S. illegally. In a 1972 interview, Chavez said, "yesterday morning, they brought in 220 wetbacks. These are the illegals from Mexico. Now there is no way to defend that kind of strikebreaking." He argued that undocumented immigrants were detrimental to the labor rights movement because corporations hired them to replace striking workers and drive down wages.
Reassessing Chavez's Impact
The allegations against Chavez have led to a reevaluation of his legacy and contribution to civil rights movements. The Guardian states that boulevards and elementary schools named for Chavez across California will now be seen as insults to the women he abused. The Guardian also states that public murals and the California state holiday will now be known as monuments to a rapist.
The UFW may look to feminism for guidance as it moves forward, understanding Chavez's conduct that contradicts his longtime use as a symbol.
