Benito Juárez

Oh, it gets worse because the country is in the middle of this brutal, completely chaotic civil war.

On one side, you've got the Republican forces of Benito Juarez and they're fighting this desperate guerrilla campaign.

Right.

And on the other side, tens of thousands of French imperial soldiers are just marching through the country.

They really did.

And just to set a quick ground rule for you listening, because we are dealing with a highly polarized historical era here, right? It's a brutal struggle between Mexican Republicans and European imperialists.

Yeah, lots of strong feelings about Juarez versus Maximilian.

Exactly.

Spain.

And after Benito Juarez and the Mexican War of Independence, you know, thanks to that, you know, I would say in the United States, about 5% of our tribes have survived complete extinction.

In Canada, about over half.

And in Mexico...

So what I have, what I have done is, uh, look to, um, uh, t- to one of my heroes who is, uh, a Zapotec Indian.

Uh, he became president of Mexico in the 1800s, and, and his name is Benito Juárez.

Uh, you know, Zapotec Indian who left, uh, the mountains where he was-- He was an orphan who left h- his uncle and, and went to Oaxaca City to learn Spanish and eventually become a lawyer and then, you know, uh, governor of Mexico and eventually president of, of Mexico.

But you know, so tha- so from him, I, I, I look to him as, as, as my mo- role model, somebody who, who had a l- a lot of integrity and, uh, you know, worked for social justice.

mexican republic that was then instituted continued until the french intervention in eighteen sixty one during this time the most noteworthy

events were the war with the united states in eighteen forty six forty seven and the passing of the reform laws under benito juarez that freed mexico from the oppressions of the church as a result of the french intervention maximilian of austria was made emperor this unfortunate ruler who did much to beautify mexico city was dethroned and shot in eighteen sixty seven the republic was then re-established the other republics of central america formed a federal union at the time the

first mexican empire came to an end in eighteen twenty three this union was preserved till eighteen thirty nine and several later attempts were made to restore it the five republics have had such tempestuous careers as a result of warfare usurpation and political brigandage that their material and social development has been stunted several are now however on the high road to stability panama was until nineteen o three a part of colombia british honduras had its origin in the concessions given to english low wood-gatherers and to the fact that pirates found refuge behind the coral reefs that lined the shores the english claim to the mosquito coast rested upon a similar flimsy basis and was finally abandoned languages the twenty distinct stocks of related languages formerly recognized in mexico and central america have now been greatly reduced of those that remain some occupied small areas and had little in the way of dialectic variation while others stretched over wide territories and were divided into many mutually unintelligible tongues which in turn were subdivided into well-defined dialects several stocks are now approaching extinction through the substitution of Spanish.

A number of languages, however, are still spoken by hundreds of thousands of natives.

Gomez led a staunchly anti-liberal, anti-leftist regime and one of history's most brutal police states.

But unlike his mentor and predecessor, Castro, he made a point of it to play nice with the Western powers.

When oil was discovered in Venezuela, Gomez made huge concessions to foreign oil companies so they would start drilling.

It created enough revenue for him to construct new roads for the oil interests and to pay back Venezuela's debts.

Juan Alvarez established a liberal republic.

There was a civil war.

and his mentor, President Benito Juarez, introduced constitutional reforms and led the campaign to defeat the French when Napoleon III tried to conquer Mexico.

As a military commander, Diaz played a major role in the victory over France.

When they stood up to be shot, Maximilian in the center, Mejia on the right, and Miramon on the left, the center of course being considered the place of honor, Maximilian, touching Miramon on the shoulder, said, "You are more worthy this place than I." And he exchanged places, and so they died.

The tomb of Benito Juarez, the Indian president, is the finest in the place.

It is a long marble tomb.

On it lies the life-size body of Juarez, partly covered with a mantle.

Not far from the main cathedral are the ruins of the Convent of San Francisco.

It is easily three hundred years old and is of immense size.

Over the door of the chapel part we could trace, Property of King Philip of Spain, while cut in gilt letters on a black plate just a little nearer the edge of the building is the inscription, Land of Benito Juarez.

The baths are now used for the benefit of the public, costing only six cents.

On July 15, 1862, John Slidell tempted Napoleon III with that same bribe.

He also pledged Confederate support in bringing down the Juarez regime in Mexico.

In Washington City, a worried Mercier warned Napoleon that the United States was not about to back down from their threats should France recognize the Confederacy.

Seeking advice, Napoleon III sent a coded message to his foreign minister, Edouard Antoine de Thuvenal, who at that moment was in England at an international exhibition.

When in Richmond, the Confederate government expelled all British consular agents.

France was another matter, for Napoleon III had designs in Mexico.

The Benito Juarez government had suspended interest payments of foreign debts incurred by a predecessor, and so the door was opened for a Spanish-French-English expedition to Mexico in 1861 to collect reparations, not territory.

At that time, the U.S. was obviously not in a position to enforce the Monroe Doctrine.

I shall return shortly.

It is sometimes forgotten that Mussolini was named Benito after the great Mexican revolutionary leader, Benito Juarez.

Mussolini himself, I think, forgot the faith Juarez lived by.

To entrust one's future to another, he said, is to forget the belief of liberty.