Benito Juarez was an orphaned Zapotec Indian who did not speak Spanish until he was twelve. He became Mexico’s greatest president, defended the republic against a French invasion, defeated the Emperor Maximilian, and established the secular, constitutional state that modern Mexico considers its founding. He is the only president in the Americas whose story rivals Lincoln’s for sheer improbability.

This episode traces Juarez from his indigenous Oaxacan village through the Reform War, the French Intervention, the defeat of Maximilian, and the presidency that earned him the title “Benemerito de las Americas.”

• Juarez’s Zapotec childhood, his late education, and his rise through Oaxacan politics
• The Reform War and the Laws of Reform that separated church and state in Mexico
• The French Intervention, the resistance from exile, and the defeat of Emperor Maximilian
• The restored republic and Juarez’s legacy as the Abraham Lincoln of Mexico