Cinco de Mayo
¡Orgullo Mexicano!
Cinco de Mayo is a date
of great importance for the Mexican and Chicano Communities. It marks the victory of
the Mexican Army over the French at the Battle of Puebla. Although the Mexican Army
was eventually defeated, La Batalla de Puebla came to represent a symbol of Mexican unity
and patriotism. With this victory, Mexico demonstrated to the world that Mexico and
all of the Latin America were willing to defend themselves of any foreign
intervention. Especially those from imperialist states bent on world conquest. On July 17, 1861,
President Bentio Juarez issued a moratorium in which all foreign debt payments would be
suspended for a brief period of two yeras, with the promise that after this period,
payments would resume. The English, Spanish, and French refused to allow president
juarez to do this, and instead decided to invade Mexico and get payments by whatever means
necessary. The Spanish and English eventually withdrew, but the French refused to
leave. Their intention was to create an Empire in Mexico under Napoleon III. Some have argued that the
true French occupation was a response to growing American power and to the Monroe Doctrine
(America for the Americans). Napoleon III believed that if the United States was
allowed to propser indescriminantly, it would eventually become a power in and of itself. In 1863, the French Army
began its advance. Under General Igancio Zaragoza, 5,000 ill-equipped Mestizo and
Zapotec Indians defeated the French Army in what came to be known as the Batalla de Puebla
on the Fifth of May. In the United States, La Batalla de Puebla came to be known as
simply Cinco de Mayo, and unfortunately many people wrongly equate it with Mexican
Independence which was on September 16, 1810, nearly a fifty year difference.
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