Dolores Huerta, the woman behind "Sí, se puede", dies at 96

Dolores Huerta, one of the most important Latinas in US history, died on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, at the age of 96. According to her family, she died of cancer at her home in Bakersfield, California, surrounded by loved ones.

Who she was

She was born in 1930 in Dawson, New Mexico. Her father was a miner and union activist, and her mother raised her in California, among farmworking families.

In 1962 she founded, together with César Chávez, the association that later became the United Farm Workers (UFW), the union of agricultural laborers. Thanks to its strikes and boycotts, farmworkers won their first contracts, health insurance and other rights they had never had.

The cry that became famous

The phrase "Sí, se puede" ("Yes, we can") is hers. She said it in Arizona, when some Latino leaders told her that fighting a law that punished strikes "can't be done". Decades later, that cry is used at marches, political campaigns and even stadiums.

Dolores Huerta was arrested 22 times at protests and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the US, in 2012.

A life of struggle

She took part in the famous Delano grape strike, which lasted five years, and led national boycotts of grapes and lettuce. That helped California pass the first law recognizing farmworkers' right to bargain over their wages.

In 1988, during a protest in San Francisco, a police officer hit her with a baton and seriously injured her. Even so, she kept marching well into her 90s.

Her last secret

This very year, Huerta stunned many by revealing that César Chávez abused her in the 1960s and that two of her children were born from that relationship. She kept it quiet for about 60 years, fearing the truth would hurt the workers' cause.

Reactions

California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered flags flown at half-staff. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said her life shows what ordinary people can achieve when they organize. Her family asked for privacy to grieve.