NATALICIO DE BENITO JUÁREZ (Juarez’s Birthday) observed - Third Monday in March
Benito Juarez’s Birthday (Natalicio de Benito Juárez) is a Mexican federal statutory holiday. Employees are entitled to a day off with pay plus overtime pay if they are required to work on the holiday. Banks, schools, government offices, and many businesses close for the holiday. The Mexican flag is flown at full staff on Benito Juarez’s Birthday in the manner provided for under the Ley sobre el Escudo, Bandera y el Himno Nacionales (Law on the National Arms, Flag, and Anthem).
Prior to 2006 Benito Juarez’s Birthday was celebrated on March 21st. Thereafter, to create a three-day weekend, it has been (officially) celebrated on the third Monday in March.
Benito Juárez is sometimes seen as being the second "George Washington" of his country. The liberal reforms (la Reforma del Norte) he instituted profoundly changed the nation that was created through the revolt launched by Miguel Hidalgo which won Mexico its independence from Spain.
Benito Juárez’s Legacy
Benito Juárez, bornon March 21, 1806, was a Mexican attorney and politician of Zapotecorigin from Oaxaca who served five terms as presidentof Mexico:1858–1861 as interim president, and presidential terms of 1861–1865, 1865–1867,1867–1871 and 1871–1872. Heresisted the French occupation, fought to overthrow Maximilian I who NapoleonIII was instrumental in making Emperor of Mexico, restored the Republic, andused liberal reforms to modernize the country. Juárez’s reforms were thetriumph of Mexico'sliberal, federalist, anti-clerical, and pro-capitalist forces over the conservative,centralist, corporatist, and theocratic elements of the old colonial system.
Benito Juárez is the only person of indigenous origins tohave served as president of Mexico. Manuel Hidalgo started the revolution thatresult in Mexico’sindependence from Spain. However, following independence Mexico was ruled by those of pure Spanish bloodborn in Mexico(often termed Creoles). The reforms ofBenito Juárez opened many doorsfor Mestizo (those of mixed Spanish and Indian blood) and those of indigenous(Indian) blood to become the legal equals of the Creoles and well as furtheringtheir economic prospects. His impact onMexican society is probably greater than that of any other Mexican president. It is not improper to see him as a secondGeorge Washington in Mexican history as his reforms so transformed Mexicothat in essence it became a different country.
Benito Juárez
Benito Pablo JuárezGarcía (March 21, 1806 – July 18, 1872) was born in a small adobe homein the village of San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca, located in the mountain range nowknown as the "Sierra Juárez". His parents, Marcelino Juárez and Brígida García, were indigenous(Indian) peasants who both died of complications of diabetes when he was threeyears old. Shortly thereafter, his grandparentsdied as well, and his uncle then raised him. He described his parents as "indios de la raza primitiva del país," that is,"Indians of the original race of the country." He worked in the cornfields and as a shepherd until the age of twelve, when he walked to the city ofOaxaca de Juárez to attend school. Atthe time, he was illiterate and could not speak Spanish, only Zapotec.
In the city, where his sister worked as a cook, he took ajob as a domestic servant for Antonio Maza. A lay Franciscan, Antonio Salanueva, was impressed with young Benito'sintelligence and thirst for learning, and arranged for his placement at thecity's seminary. In 1843 Benito marriedMargarita Maza.
Juárez became a lawyer in 1834 and a judge in 1841. He was governor of the state of Oaxaca from 1847 to1852. In 1853, he went into exilebecause of his objections to the corrupt military dictatorship of Antonio Lópezde Santa Anna. He spent his exile in New Orleans, Louisiana,working in a cigar factory. In 1854 hehelped draft the Plan of Ayutla as the basis for a liberal revolution in Mexico.
Faced with growing opposition, Santa Anna resigned in 1855and Juárez returned to Mexico. The winning party, the liberals (liberals), formed a provisional governmentunder General Juan Álvarez, inaugurating the period known as the Reform (La Reforma). The Reform laws sponsoredby the pure (puro) wingof the Liberal Party curtailed the power of the Catholic Church and themilitary, while trying to create a modern civil society and capitalist economybased on the United Statesmodel. Juárez's Law (Ley Juárez) of 1855, declared all citizens equalbefore the law, and severely restricted theprivileges of the Catholic Church. Allthe reform efforts ended on the writing of the new federalist constitution. Juárez became Chief Justice, under moderate (moderado)president Ignacio Comonfort.
The conservatives led by General Félix Zuloaga, with thebacking of the military and the clergy, launched a revolt under the Plan ofTacubaya on December 17, 1857. Comonfort did not want to start a bloody civilwar, so made an auto-coup d'état, dissolved the congress and appointed a newcabinet, in which the conservative party would have some influence, assuming inreal terms the Tacubaya plan. Juárez,Ignacio Olvera, and many other deputies and ministers were arrested. The rebels wanted the constitution revokedcompletely and another all-conservative government formed, so they launchedanother revolt on January 11, 1858, proclaiming Zuloaga as president. Comonfortre-established the congress, freeing all the prisoners and resigned aspresident. Under the new constitution,the chief justice immediately became interim president until proper electionscould be held. Juárez took office inlate January 1858. Juárez then led the liberal side in the Mexican War of theReform, first from Querétaro and later from Veracruz. In 1859, Juárez took the radicalstep of declaring the confiscation of church properties. In spite of the conservatives' initial militaryadvantage, the liberals drew on support of regionalist forces. They had United States help under some termsof the controversial and never approved McLane–Ocampo Treaty. This turned the tide in 1860; the liberalsrecaptured Mexico Cityin January 1861. Juárez was electedpresident in March for another four-year term, under the Constitution of 1857.
Juárez stopped making Mexico’sforeign debt payments to Spain,Great Britain and France. Spain,Great Britain, and France reacted with a joint seizure of the Veracruz customs housein December 1861. Spain and Britainsoon withdrew after realizing that the French Emperor Napoleon III used theepisode as a pretext to launch the French intervention in Mexico in 1862, with plans toestablish a conservative regime in which Maximilian I was installed as Emperorof Mexico.
The Mexicans won an initial victory over the French at Puebla in 1862,celebrated annually as Cinco de Mayo (May 5th). The French advanced again in1863, forcing Juárez and his elected government to retreat to the north, firstto San Luis Potosí, then to the arid northern city of El Paso del Norte,present day Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and finally to the capital of the state,Chihuahua City, where he set up his cabinet and government-in-exile. There remained for the next two and a halfyears. Meanwhile Maximilian von Habsburg, a younger brother of the Emperor ofAustria, was proclaimed Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico on April 10, 1864 with thebacking of Napoleon III and a group of Mexican conservatives. Before Juárez fled, Congress granted him anemergency extension of his presidency, which would go into effect in 1865, whenhis term expired, and last until 1867 when the last of Maximilian's forces weredefeated.
