FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) — Fresno City Councilman Miguel Arias held a news conference on Wednesday and took time to address the announcement of allegations of sexual misconduct by American labor leader and civil rights activist, Cesar Chavez.

The Cesar Chavez Foundation released the news on Tuesday that Chavez engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with women and minors during his time as president of the United Farm Workers of America.

Then on Wednesday, civil rights leader Dolores Huerta corroborated the news, saying she too was a victim of Chavez.

“Both sexual encounters with Cesar led to pregnancies, Hurta said in a statement. “I chose to keep my pregnancies secret and, after the children were born, I arranged for them to be raised by other families that could give them stable lives.”

Councilman Arias said that after he saw Huerta’s statement, it was “devastating and heartbreaking.”

The City of Fresno officially renamed a 10-mile stretch of California Avenue, Ventura Street, and Kings Canyon Road to Cesar Chavez Boulevard in 2024.

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The renaming was intended to honor the labor leader, but Arias says Chavez’s name will be removed.

“We will not reward people who harmed us,” said Arias.

So with the devastating news, it is my goal to bring back and remove the Cesar Chavez naming from the streets of Fresno.

Aries talked about his time working in the fields when he was younger.

“When I started, my brothers couldn’t take lunch breaks and didn’t have restrooms on the fields,” he said. “When I ended my time at 22 working harvesting crops, we had restrooms and we had lunch breaks and regular breaks.

So he’s been an idol to us as a community because he fought and advocated for our parents and ourselves, who are farm workers.

“Equally was Dolores Huerta. She remains the matriarch of our Latino community,” he said. “And when the matriarch or though I would describe it affectionately, when the abuelita sitting down at the dinner table and tells you the truth about what happened back in the days, we have a responsibility to listen and to act in a way that.”

He says it will take some time to figure out the process and the timeline, but says the cost will be minimal, because the city kept the old signs.

“But I do that with the heavy heart, but with full confidence, that is the right thing to do for our community and as the most respectful thing to do for Dolores Huerta and every other.