NYT Investigation: Cesar Chavez Accused of Years‑Long Sexual Abuse of Girls

A New York Times investigation reports that Cesar Chavez, the late co‑founder of the United Farm Workers and a central figure in U.S. Latino civil‑rights history, is accused by at least two women of sexually abusing them over a period of years when they were minors in the 1970s. Ana Murguia says Chavez, then in his mid‑40s, first assaulted her at age 13 in his office and repeatedly summoned her for sexual encounters over four years, while Debra Rojas alleges similar long‑term abuse; neither had previously gone public. Reporters say they interviewed several women, more than 60 former aides, relatives and associates, and reviewed hundreds of pages of union records, confidential emails, photographs and other materials that they present as corroborating the accounts and broader pattern. The story is pegged to a current move by officials in Bakersfield, California, to rename a street as Cesar Chavez Boulevard near Murguia’s home, a proposal she says forced her to confront decades of silence about a man widely honored in U.S. schools, streets and political rhetoric. The allegations are already fueling intense online debate about how institutions should handle commemorations of revered historical leaders when serious, well‑documented abuse claims emerge decades later, especially in communities that have treated Chavez as an untouchable icon.