Left turns on Cesar Chavez after horrific allegations of rape, sexual abuse

Arizona canceled its Cesar Chavez Day and communities across the West moved to scrap their celebrations planned for later this month after shocking new allegations that the Hispanic civil rights hero groomed and raped girls who volunteered for his movement.

The reports were bolstered by a shocking revelation from Dolores Huerta, who co-founded United Farm Workers with Chavez, and who revealed she was forced into sexual encounters with him in the 1960s, as an adult. She said both encounters led to pregnancies and babies she arranged to be raised by other families.

“The knowledge that he hurt young girls sickens me. My heart aches for everyone who suffered alone and in silence for years. There are no words strong enough to condemn those deplorable actions that he did,” she said in a statement posted online. “Cesar’s actions do not reflect the values of our community and our movement.”

She said she came forward after decades because of a New York Times investigation that revealed the abuse of underage girls.

For Chavez, who died in 1993 and has been lionized in the decades since for his efforts on behalf of American Hispanics, the reaction was severe.

On Capitol Hill, Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernandez called for “facing painful truths.”

“Survivors carried this pain in silence for years. We owe them our support; we must hear them and believe them,” she said.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said she would not continue her state’s practice of recognizing March 31, Chavez’s birthday, as Cesar Chavez Day.

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“As a social worker who worked with homeless youth and victims of domestic violence, Governor Hobbs takes allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior against women and minors very seriously,” said Liliana Soto, the governor’s press secretary.

United Farm Workers, Chavez’s organization, said Tuesday it would drop out of Chavez Day observations, calling the allegations “crushing.”

“We have not received any direct reports, and we do not have any firsthand knowledge of these allegations,” said the UFW statement. “However, the allegations are serious enough that we feel compelled to take urgent steps to learn more and provide space for people who may have been victimized to find support and to share their stories if that is what they choose.”

The Cesar Chavez Foundation said it was working with UFW to set up a process for victims to report the abuse.

The New York Times named two women who said they were abused by Chavez when they were teens in the 1970s. Ana Murguia came forward after her hometown, Bakersfield, was planning to name a street after Chavez.

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She told the newspaper that Chavez molested her, but never had intercourse with her.

Debra Rojas said she was 12 when Chavez first groped her. He raped her when she was 15.

Chavez was in his 40s at the time.

The newspaper said the two women were “part of a larger pattern of sexual misconduct” that saw him use “many of the women who worked for him and volunteered in his movement for his own sexual gratification.”

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Ms. Huerta said she hid Chavez’s sexual activities and her own children “because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was my life’s work.”

“The formation of a union was the only vehicle to accomplish and secure those rights, and I wasn’t going to let Cesar or anyone else get in the way. I channeled everything I had into advocating on behalf of millions of farmworkers and others who were suffering and deserved equal rights,” she said.

She said she came forward because The New York Times’ investigation made clear “I was not the only one.”

Chavez’s lionization occurred over decades.

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California Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, signed a law in 2000 declaring March 31 a state holiday in honor of Chavez.

President Obama, seeking to deepen ties to Hispanic voters, declared a Cesar Chavez commemorative day and, in 2012, created the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, adding Chavez’s home to the National Park Service system. During the announcement, Mr. Obama laid a rose at Chavez’s grave.

The Washington Times has sought comment from Mr. Obama’s office for this story.

President Biden also issued Chavez Day declarations and bragged that he kept a bust of Chavez in the Oval Office.

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• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.