Governor Greg Abbott (R-AZ) announced he would direct all state agencies to stop observing Cesar Chavez Day following a New York Times investigation publishing allegations of sexual abuse against the late labor leader, including accusations involving minors.
"The state of Texas will not observe the Cesar Chavez Day holiday," Gov. Abbott said in a statement, adding that he intends to work with legislators to remove it from state law entirely.
He framed the allegations as dismantling what he called the "myth" of Chavez as a figure worthy of official state celebration.
Complicated Texas Connection
The announcement carries particular weight in Texas, where Chavez's influence ran deep.
The New York Times also reported in 1966, inspired by organizing gains in California, hundreds of South Texas farmworkers walked off melon farms and embarked on a nearly 500-mile march to Austin, known as "La Marcha", demanding a minimum wage of $1.25 an hour.
Chavez joined the march, lending it national visibility.
Furthermore, historians then credited the demonstration as a turning point that helped connect Texas labor rights to the broader Chicano Movement and contributed to the state's first minimum wage law.
Chavez continued returning to Texas for rallies over the following decade, though his relationship with the state's labor movement eventually fractured.
By the mid-1970s, organizer Antonio Orendain broke from Chavez's organization to form the independent Texas Farm Workers Union, citing disagreements over strategy and a desire for locally focused leadership.
Investigation
However, the Times investigation, drawing on interviews with more than 60 people and hundreds of documents, reported that two women say Chavez repeatedly abused them as children during the early to mid-1970s.
Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas, both now 66 and daughters of longtime movement organizers, allege that Chavez sexually abused them for years when they were children.
Murguia says the abuse began at age 13 and continued for four years, while Rojas says she was first inappropriately touched at 12 and raped at 15.
Both women stayed silent for decades, citing shame and a desire to protect Chavez's public image.
Upcoming Holiday
The United Farm Workers Foundation canceled all Cesar Chavez Day activities in response, while the Cesar Chavez Foundation said it was "deeply shocked" and announced a confidential process for those wishing to share accounts of harm.
Whether Texas legislators will act on Abbott's call remains to be seen, but his statement marks one of the sharpest political responses to the allegations from any elected official.
