US civil rights leader Dolores Huerta dies aged 96
Huerta fought for farm workers' rights in the 1960s and 1970s and had continued to work addressing immigration and voting issues.
US civil rights activist Dolores Huerta has died at 96, according to an announcement from her family.
Huerta worked with fellow labour leader Cesar Chavez in the 1960s and 1970s to fight for farm workers’ rights, and together they founded the United Farm Workers Union (UFW).
Through her foundation, Huerta continued her activism, focusing on immigration and voting issues.
“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,” family spokesman Erik Olvera said on Wednesday.
Earlier this year, Huerta said Chavez, who died in 1993, had “manipulated and pressured” her into having sex and, on another occasion, forced her in the 1960s.
Her comments came after the New York Times published an investigation with allegations from Huerta and two other women, who said Chavez groomed and sexually abused girls involved in the labour movement.
Huerta said the two encounters with Chavez led to pregnancies that she decided to keep secret, arranging for the children to be raised by other families.
At the time, Chavez’s family said in a statement that they were “devastated” by the reports and praised the women’s “courage to come forward”.