Cesar Chavez, an iconic hero of the political left, has been posthumously accused of grooming and sexually abusing girls as young as 12.
Chavez, the charismatic campaigner for farmworkers’ rights, gained international prominence with strikes and fasts for higher wages and better working conditions for migrant workers who picked grapes and performed other agricultural labor.
After founding the United Farm Workers (UFW) union in 1962 he became the face of the Latino civil rights movement and is still celebrated in murals at schools across the nation. His birthday is a holiday in states including California.
Chavez, who was Mexican-American, died in 1993 aged 66.
The following year, President Bill Clinton posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor.
When Joe Biden entered the Oval Office in 2021 he installed a bust of Chavez next to his desk, at the same time removing one of Winston Churchill.
Now, in an exposé that will send shockwaves through the country, the New York Times revealed allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior and abuse by two women, who were girls at the time in the 1970s.
His fellow iconic labor leader Dolores Huerta, now aged 96, also claimed Chavez forced her to have sex in a grape field in 1966.
Hellbound and Down 