Juarez And His Mexico

Orphaned just years after his birth, and cast into life with a negligent uncle, Benito Juarez seemed destined to live his life as a humble shepherd in a tiny village outside of Oaxaca, Mexico. But young Benito had a passion for learning, and a desire to achieve more. This ambition led him to study to join the clergy, and then into law school. But soon the revolution sweeping across his country led the humble lawyer from a governorship in Oaxaca to an exile in New Orleans, and then back to Mexico, where he became the country's first Indian president. But Juarez's struggles didn't end there. Soon after coming to power, Juarez confronted power-hungry generals within his own country, and the invading influence of Napoleon III, who hoped to make Mexico part of his global empire, ruled over by the installed emperor, Maximilian Hapsburg. Juarez alone, a man who grew up in poverty as part of one of Mexico's oppressed peoples, stood up to the French Empire and reclaimed Mexico for its people. Book jacket.

Describes the life of the Mexican president who instituted many social reforms and led his country in a war of independence.

A biography of the Mexican Indian, a president of his country, who instituted many reforms and overthrew Maximilian.

“A deeply reported, razor smart, up-close account of the Great Drug War . . . Absolutely courageous in its fairness and search for answers.” —William Booth, Washington Post Bureau Chief for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean The city of Juárez is ground zero for the drug war that is raging across Mexico and has claimed close to 60,000 lives since 2007. Almost a quarter of the federal forces that former President Felipe Calderón deployed in the war were sent to Juárez, and nearly twenty percent of the country’s drug-related executions have taken place in the city, a city that can be as unforgiving as the hardest places on earth. It is here that the Mexican government came to turn the tide. Whatever happens in Juárez will have lasting repercussions for both Mexico and the United States. Ricardo Ainslie went to Juárez to try to understand what was taking place behind the headlines of cartel executions and other acts of horrific brutality. In The Fight to Save Juárez, he takes us into the heart of Mexico’s bloodiest city through the lives of four people who experienced the drug war from very different perspectives—Mayor José Reyes Ferriz, a mid-level cartel player’s mistress, a human rights activist, and a photojournalist. Ainslie also interviewed top Mexican government strategists, including members of Calderón’s security cabinet, as well as individuals within US law enforcement. The dual perspective of life on the ground in the drug war and the “big picture” views of officials who are responsible for the war’s strategy, creates a powerful, intimate portrait of an embattled city, its people, and the efforts to rescue Juárez from the abyss.

A brief history of Mexico is the background for the life of the Indian who became President, instituted many reforms, and led his country's struggle for independence from Europe.