Lpez: The United States of Lincoln and Jurez

By: Jos Antonio Lpez SAN ANTONIO, Jan. 22 - The month of February brings to mind the birth of the man who most surveys consider the greatest president we ever had. President Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809. He was a brilliant, self-educated man who led the country through one of its most significant eras the Civil War (1861-65). To be sure, the 1860s are mostly remembered for the wars brutality. It was a bloody encounter where father fought son and brother fought brother. In the end, the Union Army defeated the Confederate forces. Families separated by the Mason Dixon Line were reunited, thereby giving birth to the most powerful country on earth. Meanwhile, Mexico was engaged in a similar clash with the invading army of France. As in the U.S., the combat took its toll on families, since some Mexicans supported the encroaching French. Whats not widely known is the direct connection between our U.S. Civil War and the struggle going on in Mexico. Nor is it common knowledge that during these volatile years, Abraham Lincoln and Benito Jurez forged a close relationship that united the two nation states. Lincoln was a tall, rugged country boy born in Kentucky. Juarez was a stocky, Native American prince of a man from the Zapotec clan. Despite their different backgrounds, they found common ground in the anti-slavery cause they championed universal equality. Very clearly, Lincoln admired Mexico and its people. The fact is Mexico had abolished slavery in 1829, the first American country to do so. The question is why would such a friendship develop? Could it be that Mexico played a secret role in our Civil War? Could it be that the 1862 Battle of Puebla was actually part of the Civil War? Correspondence between the two men may prove that to be the case. For one, President Lincoln saw to it that weapons supplies were secretly delivered to Juarista forces fighting the French King, Napoleon III. Sadly, President Lincoln died in 1865 and did not live to see the Jurez victory in 1867. Why is the above important? In these times of endless rancor toward our neighbor to the south, it is inspiring to remember that at one time, Mexico served as a key ally to the U.S. Fighting for its own sovereignty, Mexico concurrently prevented a supply line of French aid to the Confederacy. An important fact should be especially remembered as Jurez gave this vital aid. That is, close-knit families were now separated by a political boundary that became a permanent Mason Dixon Line. As such, most Mexicans of the time still felt the sting of losing over half of their sovereign territory to the U.S in 1848, a mere 14 years before. There is no better example of friendship than that. In reality, the U.S. must stop looking for friends in all the wrong places. Lets bring all our troops home from foreign countries and tell those nations to provide for their own security. Lets stop our addiction to Europe. Our leaders must no longer use archaic economic and foreign policy methods to run the U.S. The outmoded Mother, may I? calls to Number 10 Downing Street must end. Lets release our grip on the Queens cape. Isnt that the reason we celebrate July 4? Anyway, English economic loyalties now lie with the European Common Market, not the U.S. Its about time our leaders in Washington accepted the truth.

Finally, Mexico has never stopped being our loyal ally. Clearly, our two best friends (Canada and Mexico) have been by our side all along. Aggressive saber-rattling by U.S. politicians toward Mexico and referring to the U.S. Mexico border as a war zone must stop. The only ones who stand to enrich themselves in that scenario are defense contractors. With the end of the two costly wars overseas, they are desperately looking to create a market in the Homeland Defense to sell their war materiel. In short, militarizing the border is pure madness. Instead of building a Berlin Wall-type fence between us, lets do whatever it takes to improve the safety, security, and quality of life of residents who live on the border. We have common problems, so lets sit down as equal partners and solve them together. Fear-mongering is not a building block. Goodwill is. Ultimately, Canada and Mexico are legitimate chips off the old block of America. With our combined natural resources, capital, resourceful people, and enviable geographic location, such an alliance would be unbeatable. The bottom line? Its never too late to mend fences with our next-door neighbors. Laredo native Joe Lpez is an eighth Generation Tejano. A direct descendant of Don Javier Uribe, one of the earliest families that settled in what is now South Texas in 1750, Lpez is the author of two books: The Last Knight (Don Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara Uribe, A Texas Hero), and Nights of Wailing, Days of Pain (Life in 1920s South Texas). Lopez is also the founder of the Tejano Learning Center, LLC, and www.tejanosunidos.org, a Web site dedicated to Spanish Mexican people and events in U.S. history that are mostly overlooked in mainstream history books.

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