Cesar Chavez scandal is the tip of the iceberg, insider reveals: ‘The jig is up’

A wave of Cesar Chavez events have been canceled at the last minute after “profoundly shocking” claims of sexual abuse came to light — and insiders warn it could just be the tip of the iceberg.

The late civil rights icon, who became one of the most celebrated labor leaders in US history, has been accused of “abusing young women or minors,” the union he co-founded revealed on Tuesday.

The United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez Foundation said they were shelving marches in the Golden State honoring him after they were made aware of the disturbing allegations.

Chavez has been lauded by the Left across America for decades, with Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden celebrating him, with the latter having a bust of him in the Oval Office during his presidency.

Insiders hinted the explosive allegations — the details of which have yet to be released — had been been a long time coming.

Enos Flores, a longtime member of the labor movement, told the San Antonio Express-News: “When I saw that article, the first thing that flashed in my head was ‘the jig is up’.”

The Cesar Chavez Foundation said it was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the allegations, which are expected to be fully published in the coming weeks.

A statement read: “We have become aware of disturbing allegations that Cesar Chavez engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with women and minors during his time as President of the United Farm Workers of America.”

“The Foundation is working with leaders in the Farmworker Movement to be responsive to these allegations, support the people who may have been harmed by his actions, and ensure we are united and guided by our commitment to justice and community empowerment.”

At the request of the foundations, events in Chavez’s name — often scheduled around his March 31 birthday — were cancelled or renamed in Tucson, Ariz., San Antonio and Corpus Christi, Texas, and Lansing, Mich, and across California.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said she was “personally devastated” by the allegations.

She said: “Moving forward, we will consider the input of the community on how to address the name of the holiday while continuing to honor workers and acknowledging the work that still needs to be done.”

San Antonio city spokesman Brian Chasnoff added to the Post that the César E. Chávez Legacy & Educational Foundation will not host an event in the city this year.

The abuse claims add a dark chapter to Chavez’s towering — yet complicated — legacy.

As co-founder of United Farm Workers in the 1960s, the first successful union representing farm laborers, Chavez led major strikes and boycotts that achieved better compensation and conditions for workers, who performed backbreaking labor for little pay.

His devotion to nonviolent protest, such as the Delano Grape Strike that asked Americans to boycott the popular fruit, and early success as an organizer won him almost saintlike status in the labor movement — especially in California, where Chavez co-founded United Farm Workers in the Central Valley alongside Dolores Huerta and Larry Itliong.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

Of the roughly 125 places named after Chavez nationwide — including schools, roads, parks, and community centers — approximately half are in California. In 2012, a naval ship was renamed after Chavez, who served in the US Navy from 1946-1948.

He was even hailed by the band Rage Against the Machine, which used his image in the video for “Renegades of Funk.” Singer Tom Morello sang about Chavez in a solo track called “Union Song.”

Former President Barack Obama spoke at the dedication of the Cesar Chavez National Monument in 2012 in Keene, Calif. — shouting, “Si, se puede,” the slogan popularized by Chavez’s farm worker movement.

“I want [visitors] to learn about a small man guided by enormous faith — in a righteous cause, a loving God, the dignity of every human being,” Obama said.

“Our world is a better place because Cesar Chavez decided to change it.”

Later, former President Joe Biden displayed a bronze bust of Chavez in the Oval Office.

But even before the new sexual abuse claims came to light, his legacy had become complicated, as scholars and others revealed the iconic leader’s failures and contradictions.

Critics have said that through the 1970s and 1980s, after United Farm Workers evolved into a national movement, Chavez took on an increasingly authoritarian leadership style that included purges of internal dissenters and fiscal problems.

Matthew Garcia, a professor of history at Dartmouth University, documented Chavez’s spiral in his book, “From the Jaws of Victory:  The Triumph and Tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement.”

Chavez’s personality shifted around the time Proposition 14, a key ballot measure that would have enshrined certain worker protections in the California constitution, was roundly defeated by voters in 1976, according to the book.

He became “increasingly manic” around the failure and was verbally abusive to staff, per the book, launching a “witch hunt” of internal critics — turning to a notorious cult leader, Charles Dederich of the controversial drug rehabilitation group Syanon, for tips on how to ferret out perceived enemies.

Synanon, first known as Tender Loving Care, started as a rehab but evolved into a twisted “attack therapy” cult that beat and brainwashed followers who lived in communes across California.

“Chavez saw Synanon as an unqualified success story for the financial independence it had achieved and strict obedience Dederich inspired from his followers,” Garcia wrote in his book.

Chavez was reportedly persuaded to use Synanon’s manipulative mind-control tactics, called “The Game,” on union members — including members of his own family.

In 2011, the New York Times reported that two of Chavez’s sons, Paul Chavez and Anthony Chavez, were embroiled in a bitter dispute tied to his legacy.

The siblings quarreled in court over management of nonprofits tied to United Farm Workers.

“The problem now is that the organization has simply drifted,” Miriam Pawel, who penned a book about the union, told the paper.

“It has become a family-run organization that is sort of purposeless and does little or nothing to help farm workers.”