Benito Juarez Day

It's Benito Juarez Day. And the city has closed down!

Benito Juarez was the first and last indigenous president of Mexico. He is well known for attempting to modernize the country by creating secular laws. As you can imagine, this did not bode well with the Catholic Church, who were in control of everything or the Mexican Conservatives that were in cahoots with the Church to profit from the poor.

Benito Juarez was a very interesting person and is revered as the greatest and most compassionate president in Mexico's history. He was a Zapotec Indian. His parents died when he was a child; he grew up in poverty in Oaxaca and he didn't learn to speak Spanish until he was in his early teens when he moved to Oaxaca City for domestic work. There the owners took an interest in him and paid for his education and many years later, Benito Juarez was attending law school. After law school, he held successful political positions which eventually led him to seek Presidential Office. He served two terms and attempted to bring the country forward by changing the laws that granted the Church so much power.

He is most famous for the celebrations held on Cinco de Mayo (at least at Chevy's or El Torito) for finally driving the French Army out of Mexico.

A Brindis to Benito!