The birthplace of Benito Juarez

This post shows the birthplace of Benito Juarez, Guelatao.  I had walked for many days through the Commonwealth of Zapotec villages to get here.  When I get back into the City of Oaxaca, I am accompanied by Paco and Diana from the Oaxacan Ministry of Culture to a ceremony commemorating the death of Benito Juarez.


This is a video of the birthplace of Benito Juarez.

This was taken on my trip from Amatlan to Guelatao, the birthplace of Benito Juarez and end of my long pilgrimage.

Benito Juarez was born on March 21, 1806 before Mexican Independence in the Sapnish colony of New Spain.  He was raised in Guelatao.  Both his parents died when he was 3 and he was raised by his grandparents until he was 12 when he left his birthplace and walked all they way to the city of Oaxaca where he worked and studied with a Franciscan Friar and bookbinder.

  This video shows me taking the daily pick up truck between, Amatlan, where I ended my hike in the Pueblos Mancommunados, and Guelatao, the birthplace of Benito Juarez.  

This is the sign for a reproduction of the house that Juarez grew up in.  The house appears to be two rooms and made of wood and adobe.  

Benito Juarez faced prejudice to become President of Mexico because he was a Zapotec Indian. Indians in Mexico occupied the lowest level on the social class pyramid. Their lives were hard and they were usually very poor. He also came from Oaxaca, a predominately Indian state in southern Mexico. Even today this state has the highest Indian population, receives the least amount of money from the government, has the poorest level of education and highest unemployment.

This is a statue of Juarez as a shepherd.  At the age of 12 one of his uncle's sheep drowned in the pond behind the statue.  Fear of his uncle's anger and the desire to make something of himself compelled Juarez to leave the 20 houses in his birthplace of Guelatao and walk the 50 miles to the city of Oaxaca.  

This is a picture of me in front of the Juarez statue that was placed where Juarez grew up with his grandparents from ages 3-12.  

 Benito Juarez was the first Mexican leader who did not have a military background, and also the first full-blooded indigenous national to serve as the President of Mexico and to lead a country in the Western Hemisphere in  over 300 years. For resisting the French occupation, overthrowing the Empire, and restoring the Republic, as well as for his efforts to modernize the country, Juárez is often regarded as Mexico's greatest and most beloved leader. Several towns, schools, parks, streets and monuments have been named to honor and remember him.

This mural shows Juarez and his wife in front of the Mexican eagle with a snake in its mouth.  

This statue of Juarez is located where his original house was.    The flowers in front of the statue are on the ashes of the son of Benito Juarez who, like his father, was also the Governer of Oaxaca.

This video in Guelatao show the most famous quote from Benito Juarez, "The respect for the rights of others is peace."

This mosaic in Oaxaca shows Juarez as president and, on the right, Juarez as an adolescent learning to read Spanish while working for a bookbinder.  Juarez' employer saw the promise in the young man and paid for his early education in the seminary.  

I met Paco and Diana in the village of La Neveria.  They work for the Oaxacan Ministry of Culture and were extremely helpful with materials and information.  They also accompanied me to the ceremony commemorating the anniversary of Benito Juarez' death (featured below).  

Wreaths and flowers to commemorate the death of Juarez in the Plaza of Benito Juarez in the city of Oaxaca.   He reduced the power of the Military, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Aristocracy.  He changed Mexico to become more secular with individuals receiving equal protection under the law -- more, one might argue, like the United States.  I find this interesting because Juarez came from a traditional Zapotec culture, which is so different from the United States.

Many dignitaries were in attendance for this ceremony.  

The governer of Oaxaca speaks of the importance of Benito Juarez today. 

Today Benito Juárez is remembered as being a progressive reformer dedicated to democracy, equal rights for his nation's indigenous peoples lessening the great power that the Roman Catholic Church then held over Mexican politics, and the defence of national sovereignty. The period of his leadership is known in Mexican history as La Reforma (the reform), and constituted a liberal political and the social revolution with major institutional consequences: the expropriation of church lands, bringing the army under civilian control, liquidation of peasant communal landholdings, the separation of church and state in public affairs, and also led to the almost-complete disenfranchisement of bishops, priests, nuns and lay brothers.