\u201cAs a little girl, watching them mobilize to fight for justice, fight for equal rights, is all we knew,\u201d Ortiz remembered. She had looked to Chavez as a mentor, as co-founder with Dolores Huerta of United Farm Workers, which used boycotts, strikes, and fasts to win better pay and protections for farmworkers. Her parents told her stories about La Paz, the compound north of Los Angeles where some union families lived.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMarching with him on Chavez Street, which was at the time known as First Street, was a very powerful thing as children, to be a part of the Chicano movement,\u201d Ortiz continued.<\/p>\n
When she heard that The New York Times had published an investigation<\/a> on March 18 that revealed Chavez had abused young girls, it shook her deeply. \u201cI cried, I cried, I cried. I was angry, I was upset, I didn\u2019t understand,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Ana Murgu\u00eda and Debra Rojas, both now 66 years old, told the Times that Chavez had sexually abused them for years in the Seventies, when Chavez was in his 40s and they were as young as 12 and 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n The five-year-long investigation reports that the abuse occurred at the La Paz compound and while Chavez traveled with the union for events. The two accounts are corroborated by several sources, including family members and individuals who knew the women at the time.<\/p>\n On the same day the Times investigation published, UFW co-founder and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta revealed<\/a> that she had also been sexually abused by Chavez as a young mother in the Sixties. \u201cI am nearly 96 years old, and for the last 60 years have kept a secret because I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for,\u201d Huerta wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe knowledge that he hurt young girls sickens me. \u2026 Cesar\u2019s actions do not reflect the values of our community and our movement,\u201d Huerta continued. Huerta\u2019s own sexual abuse by Chavez had led to two pregnancies, and she decided to place the children with families \u201cthat could give them stable lives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe farmworker movement has always been bigger and far more important than any one individual,\u201d Huerta wrote. \u201cCesar\u2019s actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people. We must continue to engage and support our community, which needs advocacy and activism now more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n The UFW has canceled all of its planned Cesar Chavez Day activities this month, stating the allegations \u201cgo against everything\u201d the union stands for. \u201cThese disturbing allegations involve inappropriate behavior by Cesar Chavez with young women and minors, they are shocking, indefensible and something we are taking seriously,\u201d the group wrote in a March 17 statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the state level, Gov. Greg Abbott declared that the state of Texas will not observe Cesar Chavez Day, writing March 18<\/a> that he will work to remove the holiday from state law. Following Abbott\u2019s statement, the Texas Education Agency directed<\/a> school systems on March 23 to remove any mention of Chavez from lessons and classroom materials.\u00a0<\/p>\n Locally, ahead of Cesar Chavez Day on March 31, Austin has canceled<\/a> its annual Cesar Chavez parade scheduled alongside other cities across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Austin City Council Latino Caucus, along with other city leaders, have also called for a renaming of Cesar Chavez Street through Downtown Austin, which was changed from First Street in the early Nineties. Ultimately, City Council must approve the street name change.<\/p>\n \u201cThe center of our city and the heart of East Austin should reflect our commitment to justice. We support the renaming of Cesar Chavez Street and will begin the discussion with the community at the forefront,\u201d Council members Vanessa Fuentes and Jos\u00e9 Vel\u00e1squez, Mayor Pro Tem Chito Vela, and Travis County Attorney Delia Garza wrote in a joint statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax also called for a renaming of the prominent street. \u201cWe firmly believe that the right thing to do is move forward to remove his name from the street that runs through the heart of our city,\u201d Broadnax said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n The caucus is still developing a process for community feedback and will post more information soon, Fuentes told the Chronicle. \u201cMy personal guiding North Star in the renaming of Cesar Chavez Street is to ensure that we find a name that continues to uplift the Latino community, that celebrates our Latinidad, and that pays homage to the labor movement,\u201d Fuentes said.<\/p>\n Vel\u00e1squez still remembers when Chavez visited his East Austin elementary school decades ago, and said the news of the abuse was gut-wrenching. \u201cBut you know, no movement is defined by one man, and especially this movement,\u201d Vel\u00e1squez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both Fuentes and Vel\u00e1squez emphasized the importance of still honoring the history of the Chicano and farmworkers\u2019 movement. \u201cTo me, what\u2019s important is that we don\u2019t neglect or undo that progress that was hard-fought and won for migrant farm workers, that had ripple effects for Latinos all over the country,\u201d Fuentes said.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to see us have a march,\u201d she continued. \u201cThere\u2019s other ways we can continue to uplift the movement, the cause, and recommit to action that still honors what was achieved, because it was a collective achievement. That piece is paramount.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/s1_Dolores_Huerta_27357470045_Tom-Hilton-CC-BY-2.0.jpg\")
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