Ruminations of an Expatriate

Cinco de Mayo, for those who don’t know, is somewhat of a holiday in Mexico.  I say somewhat, as it is not a national holiday.  The day is celebrated primarily in the state of Puebla, while  other communities throughout Mexico observe the day to one degree or another.  Here, for instance, my bank is open, though almost without customers this morning when I visited; but there is a parade celebrating the date.

The day commemorates the initial victory of Mexican forces over the French invaders at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

The French, with the USA busy with its Civil War, invaded Mexico, initially with the support of Spain and Britain, after Mexican President Benito Juárez suspended interest payments on Mexico’s debt to foreign nations on July 17, 1861.   The Spanish fleets arrived in the Mexican port of Veracruz in December of 1861, with the French and British arriving in January 1862.   The Spanish and British withdrew within a few months after realizing  the French intention of conquering Mexico with the intention of exploiting the country’s mineral resources.

Eventually, in June of 1863, French forces took Mexico City and Austrian Archduke Maximilian was installed as Emperor in May, 1864.

The USA had supported the Mexican republicans and President Juárez; and with the end of the Civil War in 1865 50,000 USA troops, under General Philip Sheridan, were sent to the Mexican border to intimidate the French and aid the Mexican republican fighters.    Finally in 1866, after a series of Mexican republican victories over the French troops, as well as Austrian and Belgian mercenaries, things began to unravel for Emperor Maximilian.

The Austrian and Belgian mercenaries left Mexico in late 1866, the French evacuated Mexico City in February, 1867, Maximilian was captured in May and executed on June 9, and the Mexican republic was restored, Juárez was restored to the presidency, and the 1857 constitution restated.

Incidentally, the 1857 constitution, amongst other provisions, confiscated the landholdings of the Catholic church, established civil marriages, eliminated capital punishment, provided freedom to any slave entering Mexico, and forbade the participation of priests in politics.   The prohibition of the clergy wearing their vestments in public was rescinded only very recently, during the Fox administration I think.