Latino sexual assault survivor advocates grapple with César Chavez's legacy

NINA MOINI: For the past 11 years, the state of Minnesota has officially celebrated Cesar Chavez, the iconic farm labor leader, on his birthday-- today, March 31, until this year. Governor Tim Walz signed a bill last week to repeal the holiday. That's because earlier this month, the New York Times reported allegations that Chavez sexually assaulted multiple women and girls, including a co-leader of the farmworker movement, Dolores Huerta.

The news has shocked and hurt many who revered Chavez, especially Latinos who are sexual assault survivors. Esperanza United is a national organization founded in Minnesota that's focused on ending gender-based violence in Latino communities. The organization's President and CEO, Vivian Huelgo, is on the line now to talk about grappling with this day. Thanks for being with us, Vivian.

VIVIAN HUELGO: Thank you, Nina, for elevating this important conversation, particularly today.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely. Your organization has been around for four or so decades. It was founded in Minnesota. Tell us, if you would, about Esperanza United and how it's grown in this time.

VIVIAN HUELGO: Sure. I mean, we were founded four decades ago by Latino community members who saw that survivors of domestic violence had no place to turn in their own language with culturally responsive services. And so they created a safe space-- in Spanish, what we call a "refugio," a shelter. That shelter exists today where we continue to provide support, services to survivors of domestic violence.

We provide services in the community as well as prevention programs. But over the last 40 decades, we've grown nationally to do innovative research on Latino communities and gender-based violence. We provide training and technical assistance to organizations across the country, including Puerto Rico, and including training for law enforcement, courts, prosecutors, et cetera. And then, of course, we do policy work in DC.

NINA MOINI: When you heard about the stories of these women and the reporting that came out surrounding Cesar Chavez, how did you begin to process that? And how did you approach this day, in particular?

VIVIAN HUELGO: Sure. With a real mix of heavy emotion, a lot of conflict, regard and respect for the legacy of Cesar Chavez, and then deep sadness, sympathy for the survivors of sexual assault, recognition of Dolores Huerta's courage and powerful statement that she issued, but also profound sadness for the survivors who were impacted as children. Some of the revelations described targeting and grooming of girls as young as nine years old.

So I held a lot of that emotion myself. I was devastated by the news. And then I thought about the community members, both locally in Minnesota and across the country and their mix of emotions-- and for our staff, who are many survivors themselves, and wrestling with the legacy of the farmworker movement, and then juxtaposing that with standing with survivors, believing survivors, and wanting to support survivors.

NINA MOINI: When you talk about how devastating it is, it's on multiple levels, right, of honoring just this day, and the representation, and Cesar Chavez being such a part of a history-- everybody's history. How are you grappling with moving forward and celebrating the work and the farm worker movement in the US, and also acknowledging these allegations of very destructive, harmful behavior?

VIVIAN HUELGO: Well, first, standing with survivors, recognizing that survivors owe no one their stories. We support them when they choose to report or when they choose to stay silent. It's their choice-- and recognizing that, and echoing that, and repeating that as this conversation is repeated in different places across the country. I think, second, recognizing that significant movements are made up of so many people.

So many people are doing the work, different roles, to effectuate and bring about change. And yet, as a society and culturally, we often align those movements with one individual who, of course, is human and can make mistakes-- and also, in this case, actively perpetuate and cause harm. And so how do we learn from that and ask ourselves, why wasn't Dolores highlighted more? What are the reasons for that? And how do we do things differently when we look at movements now?

And also, I think looking at, I think, a part of her statement that, to me, really stood out was when she talked about the police being hostile to the movement, being hostile to her community. And for me, that was so, so powerful because, of course, that still happens today. That still happened in Minnesota during the occupation, where government actors were hostile to community members.

And so no survivor is going to feel safe reporting, accessing systems if the police and the government are hostile to them. And so what do we do about that? How do we change community? How do we change systems so that they're more responsive, more respectful, treating survivors with dignity when they choose to report? And so I think there's a lot of important opportunities for learning here and opportunities to do things differently.

NINA MOINI: And part of that learning is research and data to be able to corroborate and add to, anecdotally, what a lot of people already knew and felt. I understand Esperanza United does research around the intersection of Latinos and gender-based violence. What is your research showing in this realm?

VIVIAN HUELGO: Well, we're doing research that no one else is doing. We're really proud of the work that we're doing there. And we can affirm and say that, like I said, whether you are a survivor of sexual violence, six months ago, six years ago, or, in this case, 60 years ago, in some ways, a lot has not changed.

The ability to safely report, to be believed by your family, by your community members, in some ways, that hasn't changed. What we do see changing, I think, is in some of the public response to these revelations. I was incredibly heartened by the responses of the United Farm Workers and the Cesar Chavez Foundation, who specifically named survivors and wanting to create confidential processes for support for the survivors. And for all of the organizations, in addition to my own, many of whom do not focus on gender-based violence, but so many of them immediately and quickly responded with support for survivors. That has changed.

When revelations of this nature of a significant individual causing harm even a year ago, or five years ago, or earlier-- when they happened, we didn't always have that widespread response by organizations and companies and entities beyond those who do gender-based violence work. And so while we see some movement and progress forward, we also know there's more work to do.

NINA MOINI: More work to be done so that even more people feel comfortable enough to come forward, you're saying, with their stories. And you mentioned when this surge of federal agents came to the state of Minnesota, that created another barrier for some people who might find themselves in a situation where they're unsafe at home, right? What do you want people to understand about what that time period might have been like for people who are in domestic violence or domestic abuse situations? And what would be your words, if you had any words, for them?

VIVIAN HUELGO: Sure. When community members feel safe with police, with the courts, then we're all safer because they will feel comfortable engaging, and reporting, and communicating with those systems. What we saw during Operation Metro Surge and during that violent occupation of Minnesota was that survivors were afraid to leave the house because of what was happening on the streets, and in schools, and in courthouses, but also afraid to stay home.

If you're a survivor of domestic violence who's facing abuse at home, you're afraid to stay there. And you're afraid to call for help. And so that's what we observed, really-- survivors who had no place to turn, no place to go. If you're a survivor of sexual assault and even considering, for example, getting a rape kit at a hospital, but you're afraid to leave the house or your home because of the activity that was taking place in the streets, none of us are safer in our communities if community members are afraid.

NINA MOINI: And, to your point, Vivian, I know you guys do national work. So Minnesota was one of the first places or one of the first cities where we saw some of this begin to unfold. But other cities are seeing an increased presence right now of federal agents. How is this time and the rhetoric around immigration impacting how you do your work moving forward?

VIVIAN HUELGO: Well, we've seen rolling impact across the country since early 2025, where survivors and victims of both domestic violence, and sexual violence, and even sexual harassment in the workplace are afraid to report, afraid to speak out. And for us as an organization with a significant number of staff in Minnesota, not only are we worried about our community members, the survivors that we serve, but I'm worried about our staff and our staff being able to function and provide care, and resources, and support to survivors when they themselves are targeted and under attack. And we saw that for our community members and staff across the country. And so, again, when survivors are afraid to engage, to leave the house, it makes all of us less safe.

NINA MOINI: Vivian, thank you very much for coming on Minnesota Now and telling us about your work on this day. I really appreciate it.

VIVIAN HUELGO: If anyone who's listening to this conversation feels triggered by this conversation, please know that you are not alone. And I would encourage you to contact our bilingual 24/7 confidential crisis line at 651-772-1611. Thank you so much, Nina, for having this important conversation.

NINA MOINI: Thank you, Vivian. Vivian Huelgo is the President and CEO of Esperanza United. Again, she just said, but I'm going to say it again-- if you or someone you know is in a dangerous situation with a partner, Esperanza United has a 24-hour statewide hotline to call. It's at 651-772-1611.