Dolores Huerta, UFW co-founder who revealed Chavez rape, dies at 96
The labor leader's death follows her March disclosure that Cesar Chavez assaulted her in 1966, a detail she withheld for six decades.
By George Parker ·
Dolores Huerta died in California on Wednesday at the age of 96. Her family announced the news on social media, describing her as a beloved mother and asking for privacy during the grieving process. The statement noted that plans to celebrate her life and legacy would follow in the coming days.
Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers union with Cesar Chavez. Together, they organized strikes, boycotts, and protests throughout the 1960s and 1970s to improve wages and working conditions for agricultural laborers. She is also credited with creating the phrase “Sí, se puede,” which later became a central slogan for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Her personal history with Chavez remained public until March of this year, one month before her 96th birthday. In an interview with The New York Times, Huerta revealed that Chavez raped her during the winter of 1966. She was 36 years old at the time. The assault occurred in a vehicle parked in a secluded California grape field.
Huerta told the newspaper that she did not report the crime immediately. She cited hostility from local authorities toward the union and a fear that her colleagues would not believe her account. The disclosure came as new allegations surfaced claiming Chavez groomed and sexually abused several teenage girls before his death in 1993.
The UFW described the dynamic between Huerta and Chavez as intense. The union stated on its website that while she served as his right hand, she was also “the greatest thorn in his side.” It noted that their loud arguments were a natural part of their working relationship, a view Huerta considered essential for growth.
Beyond her union work, Huerta served as a political operative for the Democratic Party. She helped Robert F. Kennedy secure the party’s 1968 nomination before his assassination. She later aided the election campaigns of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. In 2012, Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Honor, the highest civilian award in the United States.
Huerta was born in New Mexico in 1930. She followed her father, a miner and farm worker, into activism. She later entered a long-term domestic partnership with Richard Chavez, Cesar’s brother, who died in 2011. The couple raised four children. Four elementary schools in California, one elementary school in Fort Worth, Texas, and a high school in Pueblo, Colorado, bear her name.
Source: The Guardian
