Benito Pablo Juárez García (Spanish: [beˈnito ˈpaβlo ˈxwaɾes ɣaɾˈsi.a] ⓘ; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872)[1] was a Mexican politician, military commander, and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872.

[8] Juárez was eventually elected Governor of Oaxaca and became involved in national politics after the ousting of Antonio López de Santa Anna in the Plan of Ayutla.

[9][10] During his presidency, he supported many controversial measures, including his negotiation of the McLane–Ocampo Treaty, which would have granted the United States perpetual extraterritorial rights across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; a decree extending his presidential term for the duration of French Intervention; his proposal to revise the liberal Constitution of 1857 to strengthen the power of the federal government; and his decision to run for reelection in 1871.

He did not win the case, and was thrown into jail along with community members, "thanks to the collusion between Church and the state," writing later that it "strengthened in me the goal of working constantly to destroy the pernicious power of the privileged classes.

[28][29] The Centralist Republic itself would be overthrown in 1846 at the beginning of the Mexican American War, and Oaxaca regained its federal autonomy, its executive now led by a triumvirate which included Juárez.

[46] On 17 December, Conservatives led by Felix Zuloaga proclaimed the Plan of Tacubaya, which dissolved congress and invited Comonfort to accept the presidency with extraordinary powers in a self-coup.

The states of Tamaulipas, Sinaloa, Durango, Jalisco, Tabasco, San Luis Potosi, Oaxaca, Guanajuato, and Veracruz proclaimed their loyalty to the Juárez government.

[81] Rejected by his own country, Estrada sought support for his monarchical project abroad, gaining the aid of the Mexican diplomat José Manuel Hidalgo y Esnaurrízar, who personally knew Empress Eugenie of France, and had won her over to the idea of a Mexican monarchy as early as 1857[82] Eugenie was enthusiastic about the effort to establish a monarchy in Mexico, but Napoleon III was skeptical, afraid of offending the United States through the violation of the Monroe Doctrine.

This concern was rendered null by the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1859, and President Juárez’ 1861 decree suspending foreign debts, gave France a pretext to send troops to Mexico.

[84] On 31 October 1861, the Convention of London was signed between France, Great Britain, and Spain, formalizing plans to militarily intervene in Mexico for the purposes of arranging its debt payments.

Foreign Minister Manuel Doblado invited the commissioners to travel to Orizaba and there the three powers proceeded to officially recognized the government of Juárez along with Mexican sovereignty.

On 5 May 1862, Mexican forces commanded by Ignacio Zaragoza and future president of Mexico, Porfirio Díaz repulsed the French at the Battle of Puebla while the latter were trying to ascend the hill towards the fortified positions of the city.

Forey reached Orizaba on 24 October 1862, and began planning another siege of Puebla, the defense of which had now passed on to Jesús González Ortega after General Zaragoza had died of typhoid fever on 8 September.

[94] Dubois de Saligny, Napoleon's representative, selected and appointed a Junta Superior of collaborating Mexicans[94] meant to serve as a puppet government to rubber-stamp French intentions of establishing a monarchy.

[98] In August, Saligny and Forey were recalled to France, and command over French administration and the military of the conquered Mexican territories fell upon General François Achille Bazaine, already present in Mexico, who officially assumed his post on 1 October 1862.

[106] On 29 March, Juárez established his new capital in Monterrey[107] after having faced the mutiny of Governor Santiago Vidaurri, who had declared his loyalty to the French, but was then defeated by Republican forces and fled into Texas.

[107][108] By May 1864, the Republican military situation in the north was weak,[107] but Juárez there still had 12,000 men under his command, access to considerable customs revenue, and a steady flow of arms from the United States.

[116][117] Juárez continued to suffer reverses in the North throughout the rest of the year, but in the South, Porfirio Díaz had managed to expel the French from Acapulco in December.

[124] This inspired Maximilian to attempt to drive Juárez out of the country, hoping this would damage his cause in American public opinion before the next meeting of the United States Congress.

[126] On 2 October 1865, acting upon the false intelligence that Juárez had left the country, Maximilian passed the so-called Black Decree, enacting summary execution for anyone now found waging guerrilla warfare.

[130] On 30 November 1865, Juárez's term expired, and according to the Constitution, due to the inability of holding elections, the office of the president was to pass down to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, which was then Jesús González Ortega.

Juárez reentered the capital on the morning of 15 July, with Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, José María Iglesias, and Ignacio Mejía [es],[141] to public acclaim, the ringing of bells, and ceremonial artillery fire.

[150] Juárez also had to deal with certain insurrections, including a new resurgence in the Caste War, which ended in the establishment of a military colony in Campeche,[151] and the Yaqui uprising in Sonora known as the Revolución de los Ríos.

[158] As the 1871 presidential election approached, Juárez once more declared his candidacy, causing great opposition among those who viewed such a long term in power as a violation of the spirit of the constitution.

[161][160] Supporters of Díaz accused the government of engaging in election fraud, refused to recognize Juárez as the legitimate president, and prepared to take up arms.

[167][168] The late president lay in state until 22 July, and he was carried by carriage in a solemn funeral procession through Mexico City until being interred in the San Fernando Cemetery.

[194][195] His policies advocated civil liberties, equality before the law, the sovereignty of civilian power over the Catholic Church and the military, the strengthening of the Mexican federal government, and the depersonalization[further explanation needed] of political life.

[197] Today, Benito Juárez is remembered as being a progressive reformer dedicated to democracy, equal rights for Indigenous peoples, reduction in the power of organized religion, especially the Catholic Church, and a defense of national sovereignty.

[198] La Reforma represented the triumph of Mexico's liberal, federalist, anti-clerical, and pro-capitalist forces over the conservative, centrist, corporatist, and theocratic elements that sought to reconstitute a locally run version of the colonial era.

But, following Juárez's death, the lack of adequate democratic and institutional stability soon resulted in a return to centralized autocracy and economic exploitation under the regime of Porfirio Díaz.