Dolores Huerta, the labor organizer who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez and coined the slogan 'Sí, se puede,' died of cancer on October 28 at her home in Bakersfield, California, her family announced.
Dolores Huerta, the civil rights and labor leader who co-founded the United Farm Workers union, died on October 28 at the age of 96.
Family spokesman Erik Olvera said she died of cancer at her home in Bakersfield, California, surrounded by family. Huerta co-founded the UFW with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s and served as a lead negotiator, strike organizer and lobbyist who helped secure contracts that improved wages, healthcare and working conditions for farmworkers. She is credited with the slogan “Sí, se puede.”
She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered flags flown at half-staff and praised her commitment to those overlooked.
Family statements, BBC, Reuters, The Guardian and CBC reporting all confirm the death, the age, the cause and the location. No contradictory official account has appeared.
Huerta’s work shaped modern farm-labor protections and inspired later political campaigns. Memorial plans have not yet been announced.
People Sentiments Public Mood: Neutral
- Newsom: represented the best of us
- Family: deeply saddened