Dolores Huerta, United Farm Workers co-founder, dies at 96

Mixed · 2Dolores Huerta, the labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) with Cesar Chavez, died on Wednesday 28 October 2026 at the age of 96, her family announced. 1 2 Mixed · 2The family said in a Facebook post: "We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved mother, Dolores Huerta, has passed away today", and asked for privacy while they grieve; family spokesman Erik Olvera repeated the request. 3 2 Right · 3Fox News and The Independent report she died at home, and Fox says in Bakersfield, California, as announced by her foundation; the New York Post says the family did not give a cause of death, while Hindustan Times, citing the New York Times, says it was cancer. 4 3 5

Centre · 2France 24, using Reuters-style wording, says a family spokesperson reported she died of cancer in Bakersfield, while Newsweek says the Dolores Huerta Foundation reported she died at home surrounded by close family and that no cause of death was immediately announced. 6 7 Mixed · 2Born Dolores Fernandez in Dawson, New Mexico, in 1930, she grew up in Stockton, California, and became a schoolteacher before turning to organizing after seeing farmworkers' children come to class hungry. 8 1 Mixed · 2She and Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962, which became the UFW; she served as chief negotiator, strike organizer and lobbyist, and was involved in the five-year Delano grape strike that began in 1965. 1 8

Right · 1Her work helped win contracts with health and benefit plans, rest periods, toilets and clean water in the fields, and in 1975 the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the first US law giving farmworkers collective bargaining rights. 1 Mixed · 2She is credited with the slogan "Sí, se puede" ("Yes, we can"), which Barack Obama later used in his 2008 campaign. 9 1 Left · 3She was arrested or jailed more than 20 times (accounts give 22, or more than 25); in 1988 she suffered broken ribs and a damaged spleen when struck by a police baton at a San Francisco protest against George H.W. Bush. 8 9 1

Mixed · 2Her honours include the first Latina induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented by Obama in 2012; she founded the Dolores Huerta Foundation in 2002 and remained active on immigration, voting and women's rights into her 90s. 9 1 Mixed · 2In 2026, following a New York Times investigation published in March, Huerta said Chavez had pressured her into sex in 1960 and raped her in 1966; the Times also reported accusations from other women, including two who were girls at the time. 9 3 Left · 2Huerta said she kept the secret for decades because she feared harming the farmworker movement, adding that "Cesar’s actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers". 9 8

Centre · 2Newsweek adds that Chavez died in 1993 and that Huerta's foundation had described their partnership as productive but often contentious; France 24 notes that she said she remained close to the two children she had with Chavez. 7 6 Mixed · 2Accounts of the pregnancies differ: Reuters says both encounters resulted in pregnancies and that she arranged for the babies to be raised by others, while The Independent says the abuse led to the birth of two children; she also had children with Chavez's brother Richard Chavez. 1 8 Right · 1According to the New York Post, the allegations led to cancelled celebrations, removed statues and renamed streets and schools, and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill renaming César Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day. 3