Biography of Benito Juárez

Biography of Benito Juarez

Benito Juarez (1806-1872), known as the “Benemérito de las Américas”, was a Mexican lawyer and politician.

He is considered a national hero of his country, not only for having been president of the republic on several occasions between 1861 and 1872, but for having actively fought against the foreign occupation during the Second French Intervention in Mexico (1862-1867) and against the puppet government imposed by the French, led by the emperor Maximiliano I.

It is considered one of the protagonists of the contemporary history of Mexico, as well as a key player in his War of the Reform (1858-1861), despite having been a politician with no military background. In addition, being a descendant of indigenous Zapotec people, his figure has great social and cultural importance in the context of the racial and political conflicts that characterized Mexico since the beginning of its independent existence in the 19th century.

The civic and historical legacy of Benito Juárez is immense and is recognized both nationally and internationally. Not only

He was the author of numerous political writings but also a pioneer of state-of-the-art laws for their historical moment, they promoted a more modern and egalitarian vision of Mexico and broke with an important colonial tradition.

Birth and youth of Benito Juárez

Benito Pablo Juarez Garcia was born on March 21, 1806, in a town located in the Sierra Madre del Sur (in a region known today as Sierra de Juárez), in the town of San Pablo Guelatao, in the state of Oaxaca. His parents were Marcelino Juárez and Brígida García, indigenous farmers of the Zapotec ethnic group who died when his son was just three years old.

From an early age, Benito worked as a laborer and a shepherd, in a town devoid of schools and study opportunities, so she decided to go in 1818 to the city of Oaxaca, where her sister Josefa worked as a cook for a wealthy family. In that same house, Benito worked taking care of the farm, and met Margarita Maza, adopted daughter of the father of the family, who much later became his wife.

In that same city, Juárez got a job as a bookbinder apprentice, with the priest Franciscan Antonio Salanueva, who not only gave him employment and friendship but also agreed to enroll him in the school. Nonetheless, his academic beginnings were not easy: Spanish was his second language (his native language was Zapotec) and there was also strong racial discrimination against indigenous students.

Eventually, Juárez he ended up dropping out of school and enrolling in a seminar, where he was finally able to start his training. But his anticlerical convictions made him abandon his career in 1827 and dedicate himself to the study of law at the Institute of Sciences and Arts of Oaxaca, where he obtained his title in 1834.

His first professional jobs were in defense of indigenous communities, which sometimes meant going to jail himself. But liberal and modern ideas were already ingrained in Juárez, that by now he could read Latin, French and English, and handled canon and civil law.

Benito Juárez's beginnings in politics

Juárez's foray into Mexican politics came after he had risen to positions in the academy: in 1831 he became rector of the institute where he had been trained, and in 1832 he was chosen as alderman by the Oaxaca city council.

From there he became an alternate minister of the Oaxaca Court of Justice, then a local deputy in 1833, and at just 26 years of age he was appointed Captain of the 5^to Company of 1^er State Civic Militia Battalion.

In 1834 he was appointed a member of the local board of health, and thus he continued to participate more and more in the leadership of the State until he became a prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Justice of Oaxaca.

In 1847, during the US invasion of Mexico,he was interim governor, with great local results in educational, economic and security matters. However, he also decided to deny entry to Oaxaca to the revolutionary fugitive Antonio López de Santa Anna, something that the latter would never forgive him and that in 1853, when Santa Anna reached the presidency of Mexico, he he would charge.

Thus, the military broke into the classroom in Juárez and arrested him on the island of San Juan de Ulúa, from where he was transferred to Veracruz and exiled to Cuba. From there he moved to New Orleans, where he was able to meet with other Mexican exiles and plan a coup against Santa Anna.

Then the Ayutla Revolution broke out. Juárez was able to return to Mexico through Acapulco, and he became an advisor to the independence hero Juan Álvarez Hurtado (1790-1867), who was elected provisional president in 1855, after the flight of Santa Anna.

In this new liberal government, Juárez held the role of Minister of Justice and Public Instruction and issued the famous Juarez Law, which took away privileges from the military caste and the clergy, and paved the way for new reforms liberals.

Later, he served as Governor of Oaxaca, Minister of the Interior and finally President of the Supreme Court of Justice, a position he held when the liberal government fell and the War of Reform.

First Presidency of Benito Juárez

Juarez waselected as interim president in 1858, after the self-coup of Ignacio Comonfort (1812-1863), who resigned and joined the conservatives of the Plan de Tacubaya. The constitution said that, in the absence of the president, he was in charge of the Executive Power at the head of the highest court in the country. But the conservatives, allied with the sectors harmed by the Juárez Law, ignored the Constitution of 1857 (fruit of the Congress Constituent of 1856) and proclaimed Félix María Zuloaga (1813-1898) as president, starting the War of the Reform or War of the Three years.

Juarez tried to form a government from Guanajuato, where he had had to retreat after harassment by the opposing forces, but with little success. In 1858, after addressing the nation to call for unity with a legitimate cause, he had to flee to Guadalajara, where he was betrayed by some officers who were about to shoot him. Instead, conservative troops forced him into a second exile in Havana and later in New Orleans.

However, Juárez was able to return that same year to Veracruz, where the forces were still loyal to him, under the command of Manuel Gutiérrez Zamora (1813-1861). There, Juárez decreed the first of the Reform Laws of 1859, with which he sought to build a liberal and modern State: the nationalization of ecclesiastical property in Mexico, the Civil Marriage Law, the organic law of civil registration and the Law on the civil status of persons, and a year later, the Law on the freedom of cults. The idea was that the State assumed the responsibilities that until then had been of the Catholic Church.

The civil war came to an end after the two factions turned to their foreign allies: Juárez to the Americans and the Conservatives to the Spanish.

In 1860 there was the liberal victoryAfter the Battle of Calpulalpan, and in 1861 Juárez entered Mexico City victoriously, where he was proclaimed constitutional president. The liberal reforms continued and brought with them new conservative uprisings, which led the country to a situation of crisis and instability.

Benito Juárez's role during the French intervention

As the government of Juárez had refused to pay the compensation promised to its European allies by the former conservative government of Zuloaga, a military invasion came from Europe. 6000 Spaniards, 3000 French and 600 English took the port of Veracruz, practically without resistance. They had the permission of Pope Pius IX, who was displeased with the liberal reforms of the Juarista government.

Although the Spanish and English troops withdrew and accepted a later agreement with the Mexican government, the French in Instead they decided to stay, since Napoleon III Bonaparte (1808-1873) wanted to establish a Mexican Empire under the tutelage of France.

Juárez summoned the Mexicans again to join his cause to face the invaders, but the Congress with a strong conservative presence hindered his actions and was about to remove him from office.

Although in 1862 the French were defeated at the Battle of Puebla, the invading army, reinforced with 6,000 new European soldiers, advanced on the Mexican capital in 1863, which forced the government of Juárez to travel in an itinerant way to the north of the territory.

A guerrilla war began then by the republican forces, whose American allies were immersed in their own Civil War (1861-1865).

The French then established the Second Mexican Empire (1863-1867) and sat Maximiliano de Habsburgo (1832-1867) on the throne, who invited Benito Juárez to be part of his government. Juárez declined the offer in a public letter in which he accused him of being an imperial agent and warned him that history would judge him.

More and more decimated by the French, the Juarista forces were forced to withdraw to the border with the United States from Villa Paso del Norte, today known as Ciudad Juárez, which they finally did in 1865. It is said that Juárez did everything possible to make the French believe that he had crossed the border, but he refused to do so even though his life was in danger.

However, in the months to come the American civil war culminated, with the victory of the allies of Juarez, and a new air flowed towards the devastated liberal positions, since President Andrew Johnson only recognized Juarez as the legitimate president of Mexico.

The counterattack began in 1866, with the capture of Chihuahua, taking advantage of the discontent among the conservatives produced by Maximiliano's refusal to give reversing the Reform Laws, as well as the refusal of Europeans to become more involved in the conflict, given the imminence of the war between France and Prussia.

The Juarista troops they returned to control the national territory little by little, until in 1867 the siege of the city of Querétaro took place, where the emperor Maximiliano was confined with the last of his troops.

On June 19, the republican army was victorious and Juárez appointed a military court to judge the emperor until then, and his two generals. Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía, on charges of treason and usurpation of functions, which resulted in the execution of the three in the Monte de las Bells. The Mexican republic existed again, with Juárez once again at the helm.

Second Presidency of Benito Juárez

Juárez was once again elected president of the Republic in the elections of 1868, and dedicated his period to the promotion of peace and harmony. He made a emphasis particularly in education, infrastructure and the search for local and foreign private investors, in accordance with the modern, liberal and secular spirit that characterized it. Literacy and the railroad network were his workhorses.

However, Juárez's second term was not very stable politically. The demolition of some temples in the capital, such as that of San Andrés (where the remains of Maximiliano), Santo Domingo and de la Merced, enraged their conservative rivals, who hatched a conspiracy in against him.

In addition, Porfirio Díaz had risen up against his government and promoted rebellion in different parts of the country, and his message penetrated between 1868 and 1869 in different towns of Veracruz.

This situation did not prevent Juárez from completing his government, but it did put him in a bind in the face of reelection. His own relatives suggested that he not run for the 1871 elections, because he was also not in very good health. Juárez ignored them and that year he was reelected for a new term over Porfirio Díaz and Sebastián Lerdo.

The accusations of electoral fraud were immediate, and soon after Porfirio Díaz pronounced his Plan de la Noria, ignoring the results and accusing Juárez of being a dictator.

Death of Benito Juárez

Benito Juarez passed away on July 18, 1872, victim of a heart attack, in the National Palace. There was a month of solemnities in his honor, and since 1887 the anniversary of his death has been a national date in Mexican territory.

References:

• "Benito Juárez" in Wikipedia.
• "Learn about the life and history of the Mexican Benito Juárez" in Telesur.
• “Benito Juárez García (March 21, 1806 - July 18, 1872)” in Bank of Mexico.
• "Juarez, Benito (1806-1872)" in bne.
• "Benito Juárez (president of Mexico)" in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.

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