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Don Benito Juarez

Don Benito Juarez lived from 1806 to 1872 and was a national hero and president of Mexico from 1861 to 1863 and 1867 to 1872. Don Juarez was born of Native American parents on March 21, 1806, near the town of Oaxaca de Juarez. Educated in law, Don Benito Juarez became governor of the state of Oaxaca (1847) and was imprisoned when the Mexican general Antonio de Santa Anna seized the national government (1853). He escaped to New Orleans, Louisiana, but returned to Mexico in 1855 to take part in the revolution that overthrew Santa Anna. Don Benito Juarez became minister of justice in the new government and instituted a series of liberal reforms that were embodied in the constitution of 1857.

The following year Don Benito Juarez became provisional president after the outbreak of a revolt led by conservative elements. Soon afterward he was forced to flee the national capital, Mexico City, and established a new seat of government at Veracruz. He initiated a number of sweeping reforms, including the reduction of the civil power of the Roman Catholic church by confiscating ecclesiastical property. He defeated the conservative forces in 1860 and 1861, when he established his government in Mexico City and was constitutionally elected president.

Facing financial chaos caused by five years of civil war, Don Benito Juarez suspended payments to foreign creditors in 1861. France, Spain, and Great Britain intervened, however, and landed troops at Veracruz. Don Benito Juarez reached a settlement with Great Britain and Spain; those countries withdrew from Mexico, but the French remained and captured Mexico City. Maximilian, archduke of Austria, the puppet of Emperor Napoleon III of France, was crowned emperor of Mexico in 1864. Don Benito Juarez moved his capital to the north and continued military resistance. When Maximilian's government fell in 1867, Don Juarez returned to Mexico City and was reelected president. In 1871 the statesman Porfirio Diaz, an unsuccessful political candidate against Don Juarez, began a revolt that eventually was quelled, but Don Juarez died of apoplexy on July 18, 1872, in Mexico City, before the end of the uprising. Don Juarez is regarded as one of the greatest heroes in Mexican history.