Dolores Huerta, a key figure in the American farmworker union, has broken her long silence to reveal she conceived two children with César Chávez after he allegedly raped her in the 1960s.
This revelation, first reported by The New York Times, follows the United Farm Workers’ decision to cancel their civil rights leader day celebration on March 31. Huerta explains that her silence was due to the importance of the farmworker movement but now she feels compelled to speak out.
“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,” she stated in a statement.
The first encounter was reportedly under manipulation or pressure, while the second involved force, according to Huerta. She did not specify which of her 11 children were born from these alleged non-consensual encounters with Chávez.
According to The Dolores Huerta Foundation, two of their daughters are named Celeste and Lori, both potentially offspring of Chávez. Their names include Vincent, Alicia, Angela, Juana, Maria Elena, Ricardo, and Camila.
César Chávez passed away in 1993 at the age of 66.