{"id":664752,"date":"2026-03-18T15:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/664752\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T15:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:52:12","slug":"accusations-of-sexual-abuse-by-cesar-chavez-detailed-in-newspaper-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/664752\/","title":{"rendered":"Accusations of sexual abuse by Cesar Chavez detailed in newspaper investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Allegations of abuse that appear to be part of a larger pattern of sexual misconduct by late labor leader Cesar Ch\u00e1vez were revealed Wednesday in a new investigation<\/a> by the New York Times.<\/p>\n

The newspaper found that Ch\u00e1vez, a California icon, used many of the women who worked and volunteered in his labor rights movement for his own sexual gratification.<\/p>\n

Two women \u2014 Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas \u2014 told the newspaper the labor rights leader sexually abused them for years in the 1970s, beginning when they were 12 or 13 and he was in his 40s.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s most prominent female ally in the civil rights movement, Dolores Huerta, also told reporters that he sexually assaulted her, a disclosure she has never before made publicly, the New York Times article said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The revelations <\/a>come one day after the United Farm Workers\u00a0\u2014 the union that Ch\u00e1vez founded \u2014 distanced itself from annual celebrations in his honor, days ahead of his March 31 birthday when most events are set to take place. In a statement Tuesday, the group urged people around the country to participate in immigration justice events or acts of service rather than those meant to honor Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s legacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United Farm Workers will not be taking part in any C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez Day activities,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

The UFW called the allegations against its founder \u201cdeeply troubling and profoundly shocking,\u201d while other organizations outright canceled upcoming celebrations in his name.<\/p>\n

Union officials on Tuesday, along with representatives from the Cesar Ch\u00e1vez Foundation, acknowledged accusations of abuse against young women and minors, but gave no additional details at the time.<\/p>\n

Several Cesar Ch\u00e1vez celebrations in San Francisco, Texas and Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s home state of Arizona have since been canceled at the request of the foundation.<\/p>\n

Both the UFW and the Ch\u00e1vez foundation said they will work to establish ways for anyone who allege harm to share experiences confidentially.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese allegations have been profoundly shocking,\u201d the union statement said. \u201cWe need some time to get this right, including to ensure robust, trauma-informed services are available to those who may need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

California became the first state to establish March 31 as a day commemorating the labor leader, a decision signed into law in 1994 by former Gov. Pete Wilson. Other states followed. In 2014, President Barack Obama proclaimed March 31 as national Cesar Ch\u00e1vez Day, urging Americans to honor his legacy.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez is known nationally for his early\u00a0organizing in the fields,<\/a>\u00a0a hunger strike, a grape boycott and eventual victory in getting growers to negotiate with farmworkers for better wages and working conditions.<\/p>\n

In 1962, Ch\u00e1vez and Dolores Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which became the United Farm Workers of America. Ch\u00e1vez served as UFW president until his death.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez protested against poor pay and often-miserable work conditions for farmworkers in California, which grows nearly half the nation\u2019s fruits, nuts and vegetables. There were no toilets in the fields for workers, and they often worked with short-handled hoes that forced them to bend over for hours at a time.<\/p>\n

Many of the workers were Spanish-speakers who were in the country temporarily or illegally and had little political or legal clout to prevent abuses. That was when Ch\u00e1vez stepped in to represent them.<\/p>\n

In a 1992 appearance in Coachella, Ch\u00e1vez led a caravan that culminated in him comparing the work of those not in the fields with the hard labor of the people for whom he advocated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they come out here and taste the sweat running into their mouths, then they\u2019ll get it,\u201d he told the crowd. \u201cBut until that day comes, we\u2019ll have to keep pushing them, until they give in \u2014 just like ranchers all across the state have already begun to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Streets, schools and parks in San Diego, elsewhere in California and across the nation bear Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s name. Born in Yuma, Arizona, he grew up in a Mexican American family that traveled around California picking lettuce, grapes, cotton and other seasonal crops. He died in California in 1993 at age 66.<\/p>\n

Times of San Diego staff writer Jennifer Vigil and the Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Allegations of abuse that appear to be part of a larger pattern of sexual misconduct by late labor…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":664753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,86332,281269,606,163136,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-664752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-cesar-chavez","tag-farmworkers","tag-labor","tag-labor-organizer","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116250984175032600","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}