Labor rights icon Dolores Huerta dies at 96, prompting tributes from US politicians and activists

Dolores Huerta, a US civil rights and labor movement icon who popularized the rallying cry “Sí, se puede!” (Spanish for “Yes, it can be done”), died on Wednesday at the age of 96. She co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) union in California, and politicians and activists have since honored her legacy.

Work in California

In California’s central valley, Huerta laid the foundations for the UFW and helped organize the 1965 Delano grape strike. It grew into a national boycott of table grapes and brought grape pickers better wages and working conditions. Several California schools carry her name, murals across the state depict her, and in 2018 the state declared 10 April, her birthday, Dolores Huerta Day.

UFW president Teresa Romero said the best tribute to Huerta would be for the union’s organizing work to continue. According to the source, Huerta also helped negotiate national immigration policy and stayed involved in civil and labor rights advocacy in Washington DC and across the country until her death.

Tributes from politicians and activists

Tributes came from Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, California governor Gavin Newsom and former vice-president Kamala Harris. US senator Alex Padilla urged people to carry on her work. Xavier Becerra, a former California attorney general and former US health secretary who is running for governor, recalled that Huerta never let people forget where she came from. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez highlighted her contribution to the rights of workers, women and immigrants.

California state senator Eloise Gómez Reyes, who brought the 2018 legislation creating Dolores Huerta Day, and Hilda Solis, a former Democratic congresswoman and the first Latina in a cabinet post as Barack Obama’s labor secretary, thanked Huerta for her influence and mentorship. Lawmakers also credited her with promoting female candidates for public office.

Relationship with César Chávez

For years Huerta was regarded as the second-in-command to UFW co-founder César Chávez, and she spoke of fighting sexism within the movement. Earlier this year, after a New York Times investigation into Chávez’s abuse of women and girls, she revealed that he had raped her too. Officials in several parts of the US then looked at renaming streets that had borne Chávez’s name after Huerta instead.

Actor Rosario Dawson, who played Huerta in a 2014 biopic of Chávez, called her a mentor and a beacon of light.