Dolores Huerta Confirms She Is A Survivor of César Chavez Following Bombshell Report from The New York Times

César Chavez has long been a revered civil rights leader in the Latino community. However, new allegations reported by The New York Times are casting Chavez in a new light. According to a multiyear investigation into Chavez, The New York Times revealed a history of sexual abuse. His victims were young women and girls in the farm workers movement. Dolores Huerta shared her own stories of sexual assault and abuse by Chavez in an explosive social media post. Here is what we know so far.

Bombshell allegations of rape and sexual assault are reshaping César Chavez’s legacy

According to a new report from The New York Times, César Chavez used his position to rape and assault women and girls. Among the victims are Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas, who were 13 and 12, respectively. Dolores Huerta was also a victim of Chavez when she was a young mother in the 1960s.

Murguia and Rojas have shared their stories of assault previously. The New York Times’s extensive investigation surfaced evidence to support their claims.

According to Murguia, she was 15 years old when Chavez called and asked her to come to his office. She told The New York Times that she went to his office, and when she entered, he locked the door. From there, he pulled her onto a yoga mat he had in the office, kissed her, and pulled down her pants.

“Don’t tell anyone,” Murguia says Chavez told her after the assault. “They’d get jealous.”

Chavez first assaulted Rojas when she was 12. He groped her breasts when she was a child. By the time she turned 15, Chavez escalated the assault. He booked her a motel room during a week-long march and had sexual intercourse with her.

Chavez was in his 40s when he assaulted Murguia and Rojas in the 1970s.

Dolores Huerta is sharing her stories of Chavez’s sexual predatory behavior

Huerta was one of Chavez’s closest collaborators. They fought to bring dignity and rights to farm workers in Central California. She is often photographed standing next to him, speaking with him, and marching with him. Yet, underneath the photo ops, a history of sexual assault and rape went unchecked.

In a Medium post, Huerta broke her silence in no uncertain terms that Chavez was known to be a sexual predator.

“As a young mother in the 1960s, I experienced two separate sexual encounters with Cesar,” Huerta wrote in her Medium post. “The first time I was manipulated and pressured into having sex with him, and I didn’t feel I could say no because he was someone that I admired, my boss and the leader of the movement I had already devoted years of my life to. The second time I was forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped.”

The second encounter where she felt trapped refers to the time when Chavez drove Huerta to an empty grape field. It was in the winter of 1966. Huerta told The New York Times that he drove her to the secluded area and raped her in the car.

But she didn’t call the police. Huerta thought about the movement before her own well-being. According to her interview with The New York Times, Huerta was fearful that if she reported the rape. She though it would give critics of the movement ammunition to derail the work she was doing.

Huerta admits that she birthed two of Chavez’s children after he raped her

In her Medium post, Huerta admits that she has lived with this dark secret for 60 years. Now, at 96 years old, she is setting the record straight about the man who has become a revered civil rights icon. Since his death 30 years ago, Huerta has continued to share the stories of the work the two did to uplift the Latino community, all while holding onto her trauma and secrets.

“I had experienced abuse and sexual violence before, and I convinced myself these were incidents that I had to endure alone and in secret,” Huerta wrote in her statement. “Both sexual encounters with Cesar led to pregnancies. I chose to keep my pregnancies secret and, after the children were born, I arranged for them to be raised by other families that could give them stable lives.

“Over the years, I have been fortunate to develop a deep relationship with these children, who are now close to my other children, their siblings. But even then, no one knew the full truth about how they were conceived until just a few weeks ago.”

According to The New York Times, two other women gave birth to children as a result of Chavez’s sexual assaults. A sister of a union volunteer gave birth to a child in 1963 and gave the child to a friend to raise. Another volunteer in Oxnard, California, gave birth to a girl in 1960. It is believed that Chavez had 4 children outside of his marriage.

Huerta, like so many other women, thought she had to suffer in silence

Huerta opens up about holding onto her trauma for the betterment of those she fought for, in a heartbreaking revelation in her statement on Medium. Her fight for farm workers’ rights was her life’s work, she wrote. So, instead of worrying about her own suffering, she channeled all of her focus and energy into building the movement. She worked with Chavez to create the United Farm Workers organization as a vehicle to make the lives of millions of people better.

“The farmworker movement has always been bigger and far more important than any one individual. Cesar’s actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people,” Huerta wrote. “We must continue to engage and support our community, which needs advocacy and activism now more than ever.

“I will continue my commitments to workers, as well as my commitment to women’s rights, to make sure we have a voice and that our communities are treated with dignity and given the equity that they have so long been denied.

“I have kept this secret long enough. My silence ends here.”

The United Farm Workers are grappling with the allegations

Chávez is arguably the most famous and well-known civic rights activist in the Latino community. His birthday is a state holiday in California. Streets around the country are named after him to honor his legacy. There are celebrations across the country every year honoring him and the work that he did. Those celebrations are in limbo after The New York Times’s shocking report. The United Farm Workers Foundation has cancelled its celebrations in honor of Chavez this year.

“As a women-led organization that exists to empower communities, the allegations about abusive behavior by Cesar Chavez go against everything that we stand for,” reads a statement on the UFW website. “These disturbing allegations involve inappropriate behavior by Cesar Chavez with young women and minors, they are shocking, indefensible and something we are taking seriously.

“Recognizing how serious the allegations are, the UFW Foundation has cancelled all Cesar Chavez Day activities this month.”

Cities across the country are cancelling all events scheduled to honor Chavez this year in light of the allegations.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, there is help available. The Dolores Huerta Foundation has pulled together various regional and national resources for anyone who has survived sexual assault. You can access those resources here.