Benito Pablo Juárez

Born Mar. 21, 1806, in San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca; died July 18, 1872, in Mexico City. Mexican statesman, political figure, and national hero.

The son of Indian peasants, Juárez was born into poverty. In 1827 he graduated from a religious seminary in the city of Oaxaca, and in 1833 from law school, also in Oaxaca, where he then practiced law. As governor of the state of Oaxaca from 1847 to 1852, he played an important role in the organized resistance against American intervention during the Mexican War of 1846–48. Having fought against the dictatorship of A. de Santa Anna, Juárez was exiled in 1853.

With the outbreak of the bourgeois revolution in 1854, Juárez returned to Mexico and joined the army of the liberals. In 1855 he was appointed minister of justice and church affairs in the revolutionary government of J. Alvarez. Juárez was one of the authors of the Constitution of 1857 and of various anticlerical laws. He headed the government from 1858 to 1861, and during the civil war of 1858–60 he led the struggle that ended with the reactionaries’ defeat. He took an active part in drafting the reform laws of 1859. From 1861 to 1872 he was president of the country, and during the Mexican expedition of 1861–67 he led the victorious struggle of the Mexican people against the English, French, and Spanish interventionists and domestic reactionaries.