In her first public interview since a New York Times investigation published allegations that Cesar Chavez raped and abused women and girls, labor leader Dolores Huerta spoke with Maria Hinojosa on the Latino USA podcast about her own experiences and the broader revelations.
The Times report, released Wednesday, included accounts from two women who say Chavez sexually abused them when they were children in the 1970s. Huerta, 95, who co-founded the organization that later merged into the United Farm Workers and famously coined the phrase “Si se puede,” has also said she was raped by Chavez in the 1960s and that those assaults resulted in two pregnancies.
Huerta told Hinojosa she had kept the assaults secret for about 60 years because she feared that exposing the truth would harm the farmworker movement she spent her life building. “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,” she said. “The second time I was forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped.”
Reflecting on the emotional impact of the report, Hinojosa said, “If we’re in shock, imagine the shock of Dolores Huerta.” Huerta described feeling alone at the time of the incidents and said she had no one close by to help. She also said she never confronted Chavez, a decision she now regrets: “I guess that’s the one thing that I’m sorry about, because God knows, had I done that, maybe in some way, it would have prevented other women and girls, who knows.”
Huerta told The New York Times that two daughters resulted from the assaults and were raised by other family members. In the interview she said she maintains strong, proud relationships with those daughters: “The one thing I do feel good about today, I still, I have strong relationships with all of my children,” she said.
The Chavez family responded to the investigation with a statement calling the allegations “deeply painful,” expressing sympathy for the survivors and asking for privacy while they process the information. They said they remain committed to the causes Chavez and others championed. CBS LA has reached out to the Chavez Foundation for comment following Huerta’s interview.
While acknowledging Chavez’s “dark side,” Huerta emphasized that the movement’s accomplishments for farmworkers should not be erased. She praised the other women who have come forward for their courage, saying she has not spoken with the other alleged victims. Asked how she is coping, Huerta pointed to a strong support system and reiterated her commitment to the movement’s work: “We’re not going to let anything stop our progress, that we’re going to continue to go forward until we get to the respect and the equity that our community and especially the women, deserve.”