October 29, 2026
Dolores Huerta, foto: Bill Hackwell
Dolores Huerta, born on April 10, 1930, in Dawson, New Mexico, died at the age of 96, leaving behind a legacy of more than six decades dedicated to defending the rights of farmworkers and marginalized communities in the United States.
Her life was marked by consistency between thought and action. As a co-founder in 1962, alongside César Chávez, of the National Farm Workers Association—which would later become the United Farm Workers (UFW)—Huerta was the architect of some of the most significant labor victories of the 20th century in the American countryside.
Her work was not limited to collective bargaining: she organized boycotts, strikes, and awareness campaigns that put a human face on the inhumane conditions in which thousands of day laborers—mostly Mexican and Filipino migrants—worked.
It was she who popularized the slogan “¡Sí, se puede!” (“Yes, we can!”), which later became a symbol of resistance and hope for social movements around the world. Her commitment to social justice also led her to advocate for feminist, environmental, and civil rights causes, and in 2012 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, her country’s highest civilian honor.
The international scope of her thinking was evident during her visit to Cuba, where she participated in the Round Table, a forum in which she shared her experiences of struggle and reaffirmed her conviction that solidarity among peoples is an indispensable tool for confronting inequalities. Her time on the island bore witness to an internationalist spirit that she never abandoned.
With her death, one of the last great figures of the generation that, from the front lines of the labor and civil rights movements, transformed the reality of workers in the United States has passed away. Her legacy, however, endures: the cry “¡Sí, se puede!” continues to resonate in every struggle for dignity, and his example of dedication and perseverance continues to inspire those who believe that a more just world is possible.
Source: Cubadebate, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English