Cinco de Mayo: NOT Mexico's Independence Day
With a history steeped in battles and rebuilding, Mexico has earned
every right to be proud. Today marks a Mexican holiday that more and
more people celebrate every year in the United States, many not knowing
the reason for the festivities: the "Batalla de Puebla" (Battle of
Puebla) or "Cinco de Mayo" (Fifth of May).
While it may all seem like a huge fiesta now, the history of this holiday is covered in bloodshed and remembrance.
Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is
not the celebration of Mexico's independence day. El Grito de la
Indepedencia (The Cry of Independence) is held annually on Sept. 16 in
honor of Mexico's independence from Spanish rule in 1810.
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Cinco de Mayo celebrates the country's freedom from a different oppressive European empire: France.
French occupation viciously swept across Mexico after the
Mexican-American War of 1846-48. Mexico was left ripped to shreds and
bankrupt after having suffered incredible defeat against the Americans.
By the 1850s, the country was in a state of crisis.
Newly elected President Benito Juarez issued a moratorium on
July 17, 1861, to help get a handle on his country’s wrecked economy,
according to UCLA’s Chicano and Latino issues resource center.
The moratorium stipulated a hold on all foreign debt payments
for the next two years so that Mexico could get out of financial ruin.
Payments could resume after the two-year mark, but in the meantime
Mexico was forced to default on debts abroad.
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England, Spain and France — all of which
Mexico owed money to — were furious. According to History.com, all three
sent naval ships to Veracruz to demand reimbursement. British and
Spanish forces eventually negotiated with Mexico and withdrew, but it
was France that decided to take severe action.
Seeing an opportunity to take advantage of a fallen nation,
French ruler Napoleon III had hoped to be victorious over the weakened
Mexican army and carve out an independent empire for France.
According to UCLA, there is some speculation that the United
States’ enactment of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, which stated that any
European attempts to re-colonize any part of the Americas would be
considered an act of war, may have sparked the French invasion frenzy.
At the time, the United States’ quick and immense expansion was seen as a
threat to other world powers.
In 1862, French Gen. Charles Latrille de Lorencez was ordered
to march his forces into Veracruz and attack with 6,000 troops and 2,000
French loyalists headed for Puebla de Los Angeles, just east of Mexico
City — Napoleon’s ultimate goal. In response, Juarez gathered up any
Mexican loyalists he could find and put together a 4,000-strong, but
hackneyed, force against the French. Many were farmers armed with
hunting rifles and machetes, according to a PBS report.
For nearly 50 years, the French army had remained undefeated,
until they clashed with the Mexican army on May 5, 1862, in Puebla. Led
by Texas-born Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza, the outnumbered and poorly supplied
Mexican army defeated French forces in what became known as the
"Batalla de Puebla."
According to History.com, the French lost 500 men in a single
day, while Mexican forces lost fewer than 100. The victory gave the
Mexicans a huge morale boost, and the French withdrew six years later.
Puebla de Los Angeles was renamed Puebla de Zaragoza in honor of the
general’s great triumph.
Today, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated widely in
the United States with parties and parades. According to UCLA’s Center
for the Study of Latino Health and Culture, surprisingly, the holiday
was invented in modern-day California in 1863 and has continued to be
celebrated in the United States, but is almost completely ignored in
Mexico. Only a few states, including Puebla, recognize it.
Nonetheless, Cinco de Mayo continues to be a strong tradition
for Mexican-Americans to express great pride for their homeland, their
people and their history.
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