Dolores Huerta, champion of migrant workers’ rights, dead at 96
The labor leader co-founded the largest farmworkers’ union in the US alongside César Chávez, whom she would later accuse of having raped her
Dolores Huerta, an icon of the migrant community in the United States and a steadfast defender of migrant workers’ rights, died this Wednesday. She was 96 years old. The cause of death was cancer, a family spokesperson told The New York Times.
Originally born in Mexico, Huerta went on to become a labor leader and an iconic figure of the Mexican-American community in the United States.
Her family announced the news in a social media post: “We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved mother, Dolores Huerta, has passed away today at the age of 96. As you can imagine, this is an incredibly difficult time for us, and we ask for privacy as we grieve this incredible loss to our family. We know that many of you around the world share in our mourning, and we will be following up on plans to recognize and celebrate her incredible life and legacy.”
The labor leader co-founded the largest farmworkers’ union in the U.S. alongside César Chávez, whom she would later accuse of having raped her. Through her tireless work, Huerta managed to unionize thousands of agricultural workers and achieve wage improvements for them in a struggle that is still ongoing.
Her last Facebook post evoked her meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican last July: “In a time of growing division and escalated aggression against our community, we are called to act with hope in the belief that what seems unachievable can be accomplished. *¡Sí, se puede!* is not just a slogan, but it is an internal awakening of individual and collective power."
In March, Huerta returned to the limelight when she revealed that she had been sexually abused by her labor leader partner, César Chávez. She claimed the unionist raped her twice, resulting in two pregnancies.
A New York Times investigation revealed that Chávez, co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union, manipulated and abused underage girls tied to his movement, between the 1960s until his death in 1993. Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas, daughters of activists who were close to the unionist, told the newspaper that Chávez abused them since they were eight and nine years old. The abuse took place between 1972 and 1977. Rojas said she was raped when she was 15.
The accusations led to the cancellation of numerous events around César Chávez Day, observed on March 31 and first declared in 2014 by then-president Barack Obama.
One of the reasons why the victims kept quiet for decades was the fear of harming the wider cause that they all believed in. “I lived with the burden of this secret all this time because building the movement and ensuring rights for farmworkers was the work of my life,” said Huerta.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition