Tributes follow death of Dolores Huerta, United Farm Workers co-founder, at 96

Lawmakers, activists and union leaders across the U.S. have paid tribute to Dolores Huerta, who died Wednesday at 96, The Guardian reports. Her family announced the death. France 24 says she died in Bakersfield, California.

The Hill reports the family wrote on Instagram that their mother had passed away that day. The reports do not give a cause of death.

Huerta founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez. The Guardian says she laid the groundwork for the union in California's central valley and helped organize the 1965 Delano grape strike. It describes that as a national table grape boycott that won grape pickers better wages and conditions. California made 10 April, her birthday, Dolores Huerta Day in 2018, according to The Guardian. It adds that several California schools carry her name.

NPR, CNBC and PBS NewsHour say she coined the phrase "Sí, se puede!", which became a widespread rallying cry. France 24 says Barack Obama later adapted it. NBC News says her work improved the lives of the country's mostly Latino farmworkers and changed the course of the labor movement.

Fox News says she began her career as a schoolteacher. BBC News says she kept working on immigration and voting issues. France 24 says she stayed active on race, poverty, LGBTQ and women's rights until the last months of her life.

The New York Times reports that in early 2026 she told the paper Chavez had raped her decades earlier. Fox News also refers to her accusation of sex abuse against Chavez in its headline.