Benito Juarez (1806-1872) was a Mexican lawyer and statesman of Zapotec Indigenous descent who served as President of Mexico for much of the period from 1858 to his death in 1872. He rose from a poor rural background to become a leading figure of Mexican liberalism, championing reforms that curtailed the power of the Catholic Church and the military and promoted a secular constitutional state. During the 1860s he led the resistance to the French intervention in Mexico and the imposed rule of Emperor Maximilian, and after Maximilian's defeat and execution in 1867 continued to preside over the restored republic. He is remembered as a central figure of Mexican nation-building and a symbol of resistance to foreign intervention.
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