Dolores Huerta: “My Silence Ends Here”
The labor movement icon speaks out after revealing that she was sexually assaulted by Cesar Chavez.
Dolores Huerta in her office in Bakersfield, California, on July 21, 2025.
(Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images)On Wednesday, The New York Times published an article alleging that Cesar Chavez, the labor and civil rights leader who co-founded and led the United Farm Workers union until his death in 1993, had sexually abused multiple young girls and women who worked in the movement. Among those sharing their stories for the first time was Dolores Huerta, who cofounded the UFW with Chavez and who went on to receive the 1999 Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights, the 2002 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship, and the 2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom. Huerta, 95, told the Times that Chavez had raped her in the 1960s.
After the piece was published, Huerta issued a powerful statement about her experiences, which she had kept hidden for six decades. We are reprinting that statement here.
I 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.
I have encouraged people to always use their voice. Following The New York Times’ multiyear investigation into sexual misconduct by Cesar Chavez, I can no longer stay silent and must share my own experiences.
As a young mother in the 1960s, I experienced two separate sexual encounters with Cesar. 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. The second time I was forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped.
I had experienced abuse and sexual violence before, and I convinced myself these were incidents that I had to endure alone and in secret. Both sexual encounters with Cesar led to pregnancies. 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.
Over the years, I have been fortunate to develop a deep relationship with these children, who are now close to my other children, their siblings. But even then, no one knew the full truth about how they were conceived until just a few weeks ago.
I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was my life’s work. The formation of a union was the only vehicle to accomplish and secure those rights and I wasn’t going to let Cesar or anyone else get in the way. I channeled everything I had into advocating on behalf of millions of farmworkers and others who were suffering and deserved equal rights.
I have never identified myself as a victim, but I now understand that I am a survivor—of violence, of sexual abuse, of domineering men who saw me, and other women, as property, or things to control.
I am telling my story because The New York Times has indicated that I was not the only one—there were others. Women are coming forward, sharing that they were sexually abused and assaulted by Cesar when they were girls and teenagers.
The knowledge that he hurt young girls sickens me. My heart aches for everyone who suffered alone and in silence for years. There are no words strong enough to condemn those deplorable actions that he did. Cesar’s actions do not reflect the values of our community and our movement.
The farmworker movement has always been bigger and far more important than any one individual. Cesar’s 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.
I will continue my commitments to workers, as well as my commitment to women’s rights, to make sure we have a voice and that our communities are treated with dignity and given the equity that they have so long been denied.
I have kept this secret long enough. My silence ends here.
If you are a survivor or if you have been impacted by any type of sexual violence, please visit the Dolores Huerta Foundation website, where you will find a list of resources for support.
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