[Sosfbay-discuss] Reclaiming Cinco de Mayo By Matt Gonzalez

[Tian Harter]

http://meshsf.com//newpage/meshsf/article.php?id=330&section_id=6 
<http://meshsf.com//newpage/meshsf/article.php?id=330&section_id=6>
Reclaiming Cinco de Mayo
/By Matt Gonzalez/

Most Americans incorrectly believe Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexican 
Independence from Spanish rule – which is actually celebrated every 
September 16th honoring the peasant rebellion led by Father Miguel 
Hidalgo y Costilla that began on September 16, 1810 at a parish church 
in Dolores. The uprising sparked events leading to Mexican Independence 
11 years later.

Cinco de Mayo, on the other hand, commemorates one victorious battle in 
a war the Mexicans lost to invading French forces 50 years later. Today, 
the origins of the war with France are largely forgotten, yet they are 
profoundly relevant to issues many nations grapple with today as they 
confront the realities of world economic markets and global entities 
like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

The French invasion of Mexico in 1862, which replaced democratically 
elected President Benito Juarez with Austrian Archduke Maximilian as 
Emperor of Mexico, started as a dispute over Mexico's decision to 
suspend foreign debt payments for two years. Juarez's decision, largely 
compelled by Mexico's financial crisis after the Mexican-American War 
and the ensuing civil war in Mexico, was a necessary move by a fledgling 
nation to protect its own economy.

England, Spain, and France reacted severely to Juarez's action and sent 
troops to Vera Cruz to collect on their debt. (After realizing the 
French intended to replace Juarez's constitutional government with a 
French- controlled monarchy, England and Spain signed agreements with 
the Juarez government arranging for future payments and withdrew their 
armies, wanting no part in the ensuing invasion.)

On May 5, 1862, en route to Mexico City, the French Army fought the 
Mexicans near the city of Puebla. Aided by muddy fields (due to 
rainstorms) and the ingenious use of hundreds of stampeding cattle, the 
Mexican force (4, 000 men) led by General Ignacio Zaragoza, defeated an 
army twice its size. This victory against Napoleon’s famed army, which 
had won victories throughout Europe, gave rise to immense national pride 
and Cinco de Mayo was solidified as a national day of celebration.

Though Zaragoza won the Battle of Puebla – it can be said the Mexican 
Army lost the war. In response to the humiliating Cinco de Mayo defeat, 
Napoleon III immediately dispatched reinforcements and Mexico City fell 
13 months later. Maximilian was installed as Emperor of Mexico. It would 
take four years, once Napoleon lost interest in propping up Maximilian's 
regime, before Juarez regained power.

Surprisingly, Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the United States are larger 
than those in Mexico. The historical reasons for this are difficult to 
ascertain yet an interesting theory has emerged. Once he gained control 
of Mexico, Napoleon III was evidently interested in assisting the 
Confederates in the American Civil War that was raging to the North. But 
because of his defeat at Puebla, he was unable to divert his attention, 
thus allowing the Union forces to win at Gettysburg 14 months later, 
essentially turning the tide of the American conflict. After the 
surrender at Appomattox, Union Gen. Philip Sheridan decommissioned 
troops in Texas, provided they join the Mexicans in their efforts to 
repel the French. Many soldiers elected to do so -- even fighting in 
Mexico while wearing their American uniforms. After the monarchy was 
toppled and Maximilian executed at Queretaro, subsequent victory parades 
in Mexico City included a battalion of American soldiers. It is believed 
that when these soldiers returned home, they formed the foundation of 
North American celebrants of Cinco de Mayo.

The Mexicans of the 19th century fought against what many developing 
nations face today -- mounting debt and IMF/World Bank policies that 
overly constrain their ability to properly care for their citizens. As 
these countries struggle to make payments on debt, or just cover 
interest payments, their internal economic problems are exacerbated 
rather than relieved.

Benito Juarez, a full-blooded Zapotec Indian, understood firsthand what 
poverty in Mexico was. He suspended payments to foreign banks, electing 
to reinvest these monies locally. His actions were met with aggression 
by nations protecting their shared colonial interests.

In effect, the IMF/World Bank policies in existence today are just as 
insidious -- certainly as economically dramatic -- forcing cuts in 
government spending and promoting privatization of national resources as 
a means of generating revenue to repay debt. Exploitative foreign loans, 
coupled with foreign corporate activity, often only serves to deepen 
poverty, not alleviate it. Recent examples of this include privatization 
of water in Cochabamba, Bolivia; abolished tariff protections on 
domestic rice in Haiti; and the forced sale of the Demerara forests in 
Guyana -- all the consequence of IMF policies to repay international debt.

Sadly, Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the United States have lost their 
political focus, degenerating into commercial efforts to drive up beer 
consumption. (These efforts appear to be working. Cinco de Mayo rivals 
St. Patrick's Day as the No. 1 alcohol consumption holiday in the United 
States.) And except for a few "Mexican" trimmings, like mariachi music, 
Margaritas, and salsa, the historical events underlying the holiday are 
unknown to most celebrants.

More than anything, Cinco de Mayo commemorates a developing nation's 
resistance to the lending practices of wealthier foreign nations. I 
propose that anti-globalization activists reappropriate one of their 
finest victories: When celebrating Cinco de Mayo, make a toast to the 
radicals who fought so that Mexico could suspend unfair foreign debt 
payments. Raise your glass to an early victory against globalization.

/First published in a shorter version in the San Francisco Chronicle, 
May 5, 2003//
/
Gonzalez graduated from Columbia College in New York City in 1987 where 
he studied Political Theory and Comparative Literature. In 1990 he 
received his J.D. from Stanford Law School where he was an editor of the 
Stanford Law Review and a member of the Stanford Environmental Law 
Journal After 10 years as a public defender he became the first Green 
elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. They then elected him 
as the President of the Board. In 2005 he narrowly lost the mayor’s 
election 53-47 to Gavin Newsom. He has started a progressive law firm 
Gonzalez & Leigh with mostly Green Party colleagues. 
www.mattgonzalez.com <http://www.mattgonzalez.com>