Sí se puede


"Sí, se puede" is the motto of the United Farm Workers of America, and has since been taken up by other activist groups. In 1972, during Cesar Chavez's 25-day fast in Phoenix, Arizona, UFW's co-founder, Dolores Huerta, came up with the slogan. "Sí se puede" has long been a UFW guiding principle that has served to inspire accomplishment of goals. The phrase is a federally registered trademark of the UFW.
The phrase has been widely adopted by other labor unions and civil rights organizations and drew widespread political and media attention as a rallying cry during the U.S. immigration reform protests.

English translation

"Sí se puede" is usually translated in English as "It can be done", or "Yes you can". The more literal translation that the United Farm Workers uses is "Yes, it can be done!"

Other uses

President Barack Obama adopted the English version "Yes, we can!" first during the 2004 Illinois Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate, and it became a slogan of his 2008 presidential campaign. "Yes, we can!" was the theme of Senator Obama's speech following his second-place finish in the 2008 New Hampshire primary. The phrase was also used in the song "Yes We Can", which was performed by numerous celebrities in support of Obama..
"Sí, se puede!" was a slogan used by Spanish left wing anti-austerity party, Unidas Podemos in the buildup to the 2019 Spanish general election held on 28 April 2019.
"Sí, se puede!" became the slogan and rallying cry of Juan Guaidó during the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis. Guaidó was compared to Obama for the use of this phrase and in other ways at the time.
During the Israeli legislative election campaign of 2009, Shas used a Hebrew language version of the slogan: "כן. אנחנו יכולים".

AeroMexico's trademark application

After AeroMexico, a Mexican airline, had filed a trademark application for "Sí se puede" with the US Trademark Office, lawyers for the United Farm Workers defended the phrase as the intellectual property of the UFW. After litigation, AeroMexico agreed not to use the phrase and abandoned its trademark application.