The real Juárez

By Wendy White Polk Editor | Posted: Sunday, July 8, 2012 6:00 pm

Can you name a North American president who served during the 1800s, came from humble surroundings and is honored for promoting equal rights for all?

Sounds like Abraham Lincoln, right? But it also describes Benito Juárez, one of Mexico’s most revered presidents. So it’s not surprising that there was an abiding respect between the two.

Lincoln was born into a poor family on the frontier. He was president for barely four years before his assassination in 1865, but he managed to lead the nation during the Civil War, preserve the Union, end slavery and promote economic and financial modernization.

Juárez, a Zapotec Indian, was born in a small town in Oaxaca and served as president of Mexico five times, from 1861 to 1872. He resisted the French occupation of Mexico, overthrew the Second Mexican Empire, restored the republic and modernized the country.

The presidents also supported each other during trying times. According to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, Lincoln sent Juárez a message in 1861, expressing hope “for the liberty of ... your government and its people.” Lincoln also supported Juárez’s resistance against France, which had invaded Mexico and captured Mexico City in 1863. Juárez, in return, stood by Lincoln by refusing to support the Confederate states during the Civil War.

There are several statues of Lincoln in Latin America, including one in our sister city of Juárez, and in Tijuana. American cities like New York, Chicago and Washington D.C. have statues of Benito Juárez.

But in El Paso, there is no monument to the Mexican hero. Now sculptors John Houser and his son Ethan Houser have one in the works. When they were in town last month to unveil Ethan’s bronze of Susan Shelby Magoffin, they were also showing off a clay model of Benito Juárez.

They’ve chosen to portray the president only slightly larger than life and in a simple setting, seated on a park bench with a young boy nearby. John Houser said they’ve designed the monument so people can sit next to the president’s likeness and have their picture taken. And when they look closely at the boy’s face, Houser says, they will see that it is Juárez himself as a child.

Houser is in London this week for the installation of his bust of Francis Crick, the scientist who discovered DNA with colleague James Watson. Houser told me by email that it would take about a year and a half to move the Juárez project from maquette to the final bronze, as long as funding is available. He would like to see the statue installed at the Chamizal.

There is much that Americans and Mexicans can learn from Juárez’s leadership, but his famous quote may say it all: “Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz.” “Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace.”

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If you would like to help support the Benito Juarez monument, contact Pres Dehrkoop at The XII Travelers Memorial of the Southwest Inc., (915) 751-3631, emailpresdehr@elp.rr.com or write to Box 12464, El Paso TX 79913.