Dolores Huerta and others accuse labor leader Cesar Chavez of sexual abuse
New and deeply troubling allegations are emerging against labor rights icon Cesar Chavez
(NBC)- New and deeply troubling allegations are emerging against labor rights icon Cesar Chavez, decades after his death, raising questions about the legacy of one of the most influential figures in American labor history.
Dolores Huerta, now 95 and co-founder of the United Farm Workers union alongside Chavez, has publicly accused him of sexual assault in a statement released following a recent investigation.
“The first time I was manipulated and pressured into having sex with him. The second time I was forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped,” Huerta said.
She also revealed that the encounters resulted in two children, whom she kept secret and arranged to be raised by other families.
Huerta’s statement follows a New York Times investigation detailing her account, along with allegations from two additional women who claim Chavez sexually abused them beginning when they were just 12 and 13 years old. NBC News has not independently spoken with those women, and some of the claims have not been fully corroborated.
According to the report, the newspaper cited interviews with more than 60 people, as well as union records and confidential documents, which it says provide extensive evidence supporting parts of the allegations.
Chavez, who died in 1993, is widely credited with transforming farm labor conditions in the United States. Alongside Huerta, he led a movement that secured union protections, improved workplace safety, and expanded social services for farmworkers.
“It is a pleading for social change, for social justice,” Chavez once said during the height of the movement.
In response to the allegations, Chavez’s family released a statement acknowledging the claims, calling them “deeply painful,” and expressing support for those coming forward.
They added they “wish peace and healing to the survivors and commend their courage.”
Huerta emphasized that the farmworker movement itself remains larger than any one individual, even as the revelations prompt renewed scrutiny of Chavez’s legacy.
The United Farm Workers union has also announced it will not participate in upcoming annual remembrance events marking Chavez’s birthday.
