Cesar Chavez victims speak: Children groomed and babies conceived in rape

Dolores Huerta, an activist who worked closely with the late civil rights icon and labor leader Cesar Chavez, says she became pregnant twice after his assaults — and placed the babies for adoption. Other accusations also recently surfaced against Chavez from victims who say he groomed them and raped them when they were children.

Key Takeaways:

• Chavez, a manual laborer and farmer, founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with Dolores Huerta to oppose dangerous working conditions and exploitation faced by migrant farmworkers.

• A damning report released by the New York Times (NYT) contained rape and abuse accusations against Chavez from three women, two of whom were young girls when the alleged abuse began.

• The NYT report utilized interviews with over 60 people, including aides and relatives, as well as hundreds of pages of union records, confidential emails, photographs, and other material.

The Details:

The New York Times released a report which alleged that Chavez, who died in his sleep in 1993 at age of 66 from natural causes, groomed and then sexually abused women and girls for years when they worked in his movement. One was Dolores Huerta, who worked closely by Chavez's side; the other two were the daughters of activists.

Abusing children

Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas both said Chavez abused them between 1972 and 1977, when he was in his 40s. Murguja claims he began molesting her when she was 13; Rojas said she was 12 when her abuse began.

Though Huerta, Murguia, and Rojas have thus far been the only women willing to be publicly identified, the NYT said there are at least a dozen more — some who were also minors at the time of their abuse.

The NYT allegations are based on...

... interviews with more than 60 people, including [Chavez's] top aides at the time, his relatives and former members of the U.F.W., which he co-founded with Ms. Huerta and Gilbert Padilla. The Times reviewed hundreds of pages of union records, confidential emails and photographs, as well as hours of audio recordings from U.F.W. board meetings.

Many of his victims were allegedly too afraid to come forward, especially as Chavez became an iconic figure in the civil rights movement.

"I wanted to die"

Murguja said she first met Chavez when she was eight, and that he called her into his office one day and molested her; he then told her not to tell anyone, because other people would "get jealous."

She says the abuse continued for the next four years and was so traumatizing that she attempted suicide multiple times before she was 15. “I wanted to die,” she told the New York Times. Internal e-mails validated her claim, and at least one of her relatives confronted Chavez in the 1980s.

'He did his grooming very well'

Rojas said Chavez began molesting her in his office as he had done with Murguja, though he eventually began raping her as well. She had posted on social media about the abuse at least once, before deleting the message after some who idolized Chavez became angry with her.

There is also a letter from Rojas to Chavez in the Walter P. Reuther Library archives at Wayne State University in Detroit, written when she was 12, in which she says she thinks of him "all the time" and asks if he thinks of her, too.

“I had love for him,” Rojas said. “He did his grooming very well. He should get an Academy Award for all he did.”

Dolores Huerta's pregnancies from rape

In addition to the NYT report, Huerta released a statement detailing the abuse she suffered at his hands, which resulted in two pregnancies.

“I am nearly 96 years old, and for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for," Huerta began. "I have encouraged people to always use their voice. Following the New York Times’ multi-year investigation into sexual misconduct by Cesar Chavez, I can no longer stay silent and must share my own experiences."

Huerta said it was in the 1960s when she was a young mother that she was pressured to have sex with Chavez. "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 explained.

The second time, Huerta said she was raped, and that it was "forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped."

Both times, the assaults resulted in pregnancies.

Yet rather than have abortions, Huerta said she placed the children for adoption, with families that could offer safety and stability.

"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," she said. "But even then, no one knew the full truth about how they were conceived until just a few weeks ago."

She said she now realizes she is a survivor of violence, and said knowing Chavez also abused young girls broke her heart. It was that knowledge, she said, that prompted her to come forward.

"I have kept this secret long enough," she said. "My silence ends here."

The Big Picture:

Women and girls who come forward to expose the truth about their abusers are extremely courageous and deserve support. Some of those women have conceived children as a result of rape. While some choose abortion, others, like Huerta, choose to give those children life.

When Survivors of Rape and Children Conceived in Rape Come Face to Face

The Bottom Line:

Huerta was fortunate to have the strength and support to choose adoption for her children. Abusive men often use abortion as a tool to cover up their crimes, adding further pain and trauma to an already horrific situation.