Horrific details of Cesar Chavez rape scandal finally made public

Ana Murguia claimed the abuse started when she was just 13, while Debra Rojas said she was first assaulted at 12 and later raped at 15.

Both women described a pattern of grooming that began when they were as young as 8 or 9 years old.

“I didn’t know what the word grooming was,” Rojas told the Times. “It’s like you’re mesmerized.”

She said she had been a virgin and recalled that the encounter was painful and left her bleeding, according to paper. What stayed with her just as vividly was the gun Chavez placed on the nightstand, right before he raped her, which frightened her each time she glanced at it.

When she asked why it was there, she said he dismissed her concern, telling her not to worry.

Murguia said she was repeatedly molested in Chavez’s office, leaving her deeply traumatized and suicidal as a teenager. Rojas recounted being taken to a motel during a union march, where she said Chavez assaulted her.

“I wanted to die,” she said.

Their claims are supported by interviews, documents, and people they confided in over the years, according to the Times investigation.

In a stunning revelation, longtime activist Dolores Huerta — Chavez’s closest ally — also alleged he sexually assaulted her, a claim she had never previously made public.

She described an incident in 1966 and said she later bore two of his children, which she kept secret.

Huerta said she hid the pregnancies with loose clothing and ponchos, later giving birth to the girls and arranging for them to be raised by others.

“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 later in a statement after the Times investigation was made public. “The second time I was forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped.”

The investigation further found Chavez fathered at least four children with multiple women outside his marriage, with paternity supported by family accounts and DNA evidence.

The United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez Foundation said they were canceling marches in the Golden State honoring him after they were made aware of the disturbing allegations.

The UFW called the claims against Chavez “crushing” and “indefensible.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said it would “provide comment once information is shared or reported,” Politico reported.

Cesar Chavez Day, celebrated on March 31, remains a legal holiday and paid day off for state employees.

Chavez has been lauded by the left across America for decades, with Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden celebrating him. Obama had a bust of him in the Oval Office during his presidency.

The  Times investigation drew on interviews with more than 60 named and unnamed sources, including former aides, family members and union insiders, to corroborate allegations spanning decades.

Among them were Cynthia Bell and her daughter, Esmeralda Lopez, who described a later encounter that adds to the pattern of alleged misconduct surrounding Cesar Chavez.

Lopez said she was 19 when Chavez allegedly made an unwanted advance during a work trip, suggesting he could use his influence to benefit her if she agreed to a sexual relationship. She rejected him, and said he did not pursue it further.

“It makes you rethink in history all those heroes,” she said. “The movement — that’s the hero.”

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