Dolores Huerta, who co-founded United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez, says she was sexually abused and impregnated by the late labor leader, whose legacy the union will no longer celebrate this year.

The civil rights advocate, who was 66 when he died in 1993, typically is commemorated on March 31, which in 2014 was dubbed Cesar Chavez Day, a federal commemorative holiday.

Huerta, 95, said in a statement that she “experienced two separate sexual encounters with Cesar” when she was “a young mother in the 1960s.”

“The first time I was manipulated and pressured into having sex with him, and I didn’t feel I could say no because he was someone that I admired, my boss and the leader of the movement I had already devoted years of my life to,” said Huertas. “The second time I was forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped.”

Huertas alleges that she bore two children from those encounters, who she “chose to keep … secret” and ultimately “arranged for them to be raised by other families that could give them stable lives.”

Though all of her kids are “now close to my other children,” Huertas said they only learned of their origins in recent weeks and she’d previously remained quiet because she “believed that exposing the truth would hurt the farmworker movement I have spent my entire life fighting for. … I wasn’t going to let Cesar or anyone else get in the way.”

Huertas says she has “never identified myself as a victim, but I now understand that I am a survivor. … My heart aches for everyone who suffered alone and in silence for years.”

Huertas’ statement comes on the heels of The New York Times’ exposé Wednesday about Chavez’s alleged abuse of women and minors, published a day after the UFW said it did “not have any firsthand knowledge of these allegations.”

The labor organization though added that “the allegations are serious enough that we feel compelled to take urgent steps to learn more and provide space for people who may have been victimized to find support and to share their stories if that is what they choose.”

The organization has canceled all of this month’s Cesar Chavez Day activities, characterizing the allegations against Chavez as being “against everything that we stand for.”

UFW said that some of the allegations stem from “family issues, and (are) not our story to tell or our place to comment on.”

The Cesar Chavez Foundation said in a statement Tuesday that it was “deeply shocked and saddened” after learning of allegations its namesake “engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with women and minors during his time as President of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW).”

The foundation said it was partnering with UFW to create “a safe and confidential process” for those who want to open up about enduring “historic harm, and, if they choose to, participate in efforts toward repair and reconciliation.”

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office on Tuesday reportedly released a statement saying that due to the “troubling allegations,” Chavez’s home state would also “not recognize Cesar Chavez Day this year. Our thoughts are with the victims and all those affected.”

Celebrations have reportedly also been canceled across multiple cities in Texas, as well as a commemorative dinner in Michigan.

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