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Benito Juarez the “Mexican Lincoln”
Written by John Trausch, MA
He was called the “Mexican Lincoln,” which not only reflects his politics but his relationship with the American president. He wasn’t tall and didn’t have a beard. But they both were altruistic attorneys who heroically lead their young countries at a crucial time in their nation’s histories.
 Benito Juarez was a Zapoteco Indian, born March 21st 1806. Orphaned at three, he eventually came to Oaxaca at age 12, and began studying for the priesthood. The works of the Enlightenment’s great rationalist philosophers caught Juarez’s eye, and he began to see his calling in law. In 1831 he became an attorney as well as a city councilman. In 1841 he became a judge, and the governor of Oaxaca. In 1853 conservative dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna took power and exiled liberals, including Juarez, who sought asylum in New Orleans. The liberals rose back into power in 1855, and Juarez returned and became justice minister, and then chief justice of the supreme court, and position that made him the de facto vice president of Mexico. The new liberal constitution curtailed the privileges of the Catholic Church, displeasing the conservatives and the clerics, who took their turn and rose up in December 1857. Congress was dissolved and Juarez was arrested before escaping to Veracruz, where he ran a government in exile.
At this point in 1858, former Congressman Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to Juarez, wishing him hope "for the liberty of .. your government and its people."
The Reform War of 1858-1861 in many ways parallels the U.S. Civil War of 1861-1865. Like Lincoln, Juarez suffered many difficult early defeats but kept his perspective on the ultimate goal of the winning the war, not the battle. He never lost hope.
In January 1861 the liberals came back, and Juarez became el Presidente of Mexico.
 The treasury was empty from all the fighting, so Juarez suspended payment on all foreign debts for two years. Spain, Britain and France sent troops over to claim their debts, landing in Vera Cruz. But France’s intentions was not to just take the money and run, but to take control of all of Mexico, for French leader Louis Napoleon III had his namesake and uncle’s ambition without either his wherewithal or army. Spain and Britain left and French troops fought for two more years, and although suffering a serious defeat on Cinco de Mayo, 1862. Eventually they did capture Mexico City in 1863 and place puppet Archduke Maximilian of Austria on the Mexican throne.
Benito Juarez and the government of Mexico were forced to retreat back to Juarez, on the U.S. border.
U.S. Gen. Phil Sheridan wrote "we continued supplying arms and munitions to the liberals, sending as many as 30,000 muskets from Baton Rouge alone... Concentrate in all available points in the States an army strong enough to move against the invaders of Mexico."
Juárez reciprocated the friendly attitude of Lincoln’s government is shown by his response to an overture he received from the Confederate government. The South sent a delegation, under Confederate Gen. John T. Pickett, to try and win over the Mexicans. Juárez threw Pickett in a Mexico City jail for 30 days and then booted him out of the country. After four years of pressure from the U.S., finally the French withdrew. Maximilian was captured and shot in 1867.
 Juarez returned to Mexico City. And unlike Abraham Lincoln, Benito Juarez lived to preside over his wounded country. One of the greatest U.S. tragedies that Lincoln did not live and the U.S. was left in the hands of his incompetent successors. Mexican President Juarez, on the other hand, endured intense political pressure and attacks from the right, the left, the church, the north, the south, as well as native uprisings. Juarez died of a heart attack in office in 1872. We celebrate Benito Juarez’s birthday on March 21. “Viva Presedente Benito Juarez!”
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