Recently, the New York Times published an investigation revealing that Cesar Chavez - co-founder of the United Farm Workers and one of the most celebrated figures in American labor history - groomed and sexually abused girls and assaulted women over decades. Dolores Huerta, Chavez’s co-founder, came forward at 95 to disclose that Chavez raped her in the 1960s.
We condemn the acts of Chavez and stand in unequivocal solidarity with Dolores Huerta, Ana Murguia, Debra Rojas, and the rest of Cesar Chavez’s victims.
As of this writing, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Legalization 4 All (L4A) - FRSO’s national network of immigration and Chicano liberation front groups, which includes Centro CSO in Los Angeles - and FRSO’s other affiliated organizations (1)Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR), Anti-War Action Network (AWAN) have not commented.
Centro CSO in particular has built its public identity around being the continuation of the original Community Service Organization which trained Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta before they went on to found the UFW. They invoke Chavez’s legacy in the history section of their website. On Cesar Chavez Day in 2021, they further reinforced that connection.
Centro CSO is led by FRSO cadres Carlos Montes and Marisol “Sol” Marquez. Carlos Montes is part of FRSO’s Central Committee, which presided over the cover-ups documented on this site. (2)See his bio from FRSO’s 9th Congress in 2022. He has written fondly of meeting Chavez. Sol Marquez leads FRSO’s Los Angeles district. She is documented in our reporting for her role in covering up for serial sexual predator Dustin Ponder. Together with Xavi Velasquez, a Dallas FRSO cadre who enforced the cover-ups locally, they lead Legalization 4 All and FRSO’s internal Chicano commission nationally.
Centro CSO claims Chavez’s legacy, but has remained silent on his abuse. Other organizations with historical connections to Chavez have responded swiftly and nearly universally. The UFW canceled all Cesar Chavez Day activities. (3)See the UFW’s statement. The Cesar Chavez Foundation expressed solidarity with the survivors of Chavez’s abuse and condemned his actions. (4)See the Cesar Chavez foundation’s statement. The modern Brown Berets - successors to the organization Montes co-founded - issued a statement identifying Chavez’s historical anti-immigrant positions and rejecting rape culture in the movement.
The silence is not surprising. To comment on Chavez would mean commenting on the structures around him which enabled the abuse for decades. Chavez’s leadership of the UFW was characterized by purges, suppression of internal dissent, and organizational control tactics adopted from the Synanon cult. (5)See “Shattered Dreams,” Dissent Magazine; “Telling the truth about César Chávez,” Left Business Observer; “Cesar Chavez: Horrifying Abuse, but One of Many Errors of Judgement,” New Politics; and “We Already Knew Chavez Was Bad,” Flyover Takes. These structural patterns mirror FRSO’s own anti-democratic practices.
The structures produce a logic that perceives accountability as a threat to the organization’s survival and therefore necessitates silence (“but they do good work!”). Those who push for accountability are labeled “wreckers” - a framing that only makes sense if the organization considers itself synonymous with the movement, such that holding it accountable means tearing the movement down. The same logic operated within the UFW. The New York Times investigation revealed that relatives and union members were aware of allegations of abuse for decades. When Debra Rojas, one of Chavez’s child victims, posted publicly that Chavez had molested her, she was accused of jeopardizing everything the movement had built. Huerta remained silent until now because she internalized the organizational logic: “I believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for.”
The silence of Centro CSO and L4A is not independent of FRSO. It is a product of FRSO’s organizational discipline, transmitted through the FRSO cadre leading those organizations. FRSO’s typical response to controversy is not to address it, but to suppress internal discussion and wait for attention to move on. Cesar Chavez Day is March 31. Centro CSO has historically organized annual events commemorating the day. Whether Centro CSO or any Legalization 4 All affiliate addresses Chavez’s abuse before then will be telling.
If you have information about FRSO or FRSO-affiliated organizations, or if you want to reach out for any other reason: [email protected]. Your privacy will be protected.