Cesar Chavez image tattered

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune

Cesar Chavez Elementary School. Cesar Chavez, an icon in the farm labor movement, was accused of sexual assault by Delores Huerta, his partner in the movement.

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Sexual abuse allegations surface

The iconography of the legendary Cesar Chavez was left shredded last week when Delores Huerta, his partner and confidante in the farm labor movement, accused the late union organizer of sexual assault. 

Huerta told New York Times reporter Manny Fernandez that the first offense took place in the early 1960s. She said the second assault was forced on her by Chavez in a car in 1966.

Fernandez, a former reporter for the Madera Tribune, and his colleague Sarah Aurtes conducted a five-year investigation into the lingering suspicions that something was wrong in the Chavez camp. The pair interviewed 60 people.