EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — A mural honoring Cesar Chavez at Ascarate Park will now be updated after county officials approved a plan to change the artwork following recent sexual abuse allegations against the civil rights icon.

During Monday’s meeting, the county commissioners approved a $6,300 plan to update the artwork after a local artist, Jesus Alvarado, presented the proposal to change the artwork.

The redesign will shift the mural’s focus to the collective power of the farmworkers’ movement rather than centering primarily on Chavez. The project will be led by Alvarado.

“Given the painful news that has surfaced in recent weeks regarding Cesar Chavez’s predatory behavior, we have a new opportunity to update the mural. This would better reflect our community and the County’s shared values. I propose to rework this mural to focus on the collective achievements made in labor rights thanks to the farmworkers’ movement…The goal of a reworked mural will include less focus on individuals and focus more on the larger importance of the movement,” Alvarado said in his proposal.

Chávez, a nationally known leader in the Latino civil rights movement during the 1960s, organized protests for farmworkers to receive better wages and working conditions.

In the New York Times report, Chavez, who died in 1993, was accused of sexually abusing and grooming young girls who worked in the movement, including civil rights icon and co-founder of the United Farm Workers (UFW), Dolores Huerta, who was in her 30’s at the time.

According to the investigation, the women say Chavez sexually abused them after grooming them, with the abuse happening as young as 12, during the time Chavez led the United Farm Workers Union.

Meanwhile, county officials said the work will be funded by the Community Foundation and could be completed by early summer. According to Alvarado’s proposal, the work could be completed between three and six weeks.

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