The State - News from July 26, 1988

The latest fast by farm labor leader Cesar Chavez is aimed solely at trying to force growers to quit using five pesticides he wants banned, his son said. Chavez was in the ninth day of a fast that was first reported on Friday. The United Farm Workers president did not attend a Delano press conference concerning the fast because he considers it spiritual and has not met with reporters during previous fasts, said his son, Paul Chavez. The son said Chavez is subsisting solely on water. Paul Chavez contended that the fast is intended only to promote the union’s attempt to have certain pesticides banned, not as part of its effort to win new agreements in table grapes where the UFW now has no contracts. Paul Chavez also said his father has not decided how long this fast will last.