Reading for a birthday

If it is about tributes, if the level of memory and celebration were measured with words, Benito Juárez would win. It is the Benemérito, whose birthday is celebrated on March 21, who has caused the greatest number of compositions in his honor (and also to his discredit). From the most brainy writings and the most heartfelt poems, to the most unusual and well-known expressions. Many have to do with him. We say, for example, “what the wind to Juárez” when we presume to be unscathed, almost invincible against the onslaught of misfortune and a thousand times we have repeated, the famous phrase that speaks of the rights of others. Without knowing that it was authored by Juárez himself, he included it as the closing of his speech after defeating the French invaders, restoring the Republic and it said:

“The national government returns today to establish its residence in Mexico City, from which it left four years ago. He then brought the resolution never to abandon the fulfillment of his most sacred duties, the greater the conflict in the nation. It was with the sure confidence that the Mexican people would fight without ceasing against the iniquitous foreign invasion, in defense of their rights and their freedom. (…) Let us direct all our efforts now to obtain and consolidate the benefits of peace. Under its auspices, the protection of the laws and the authorities for the rights of all the inhabitants of the Republic will be effective. That the people and the government respect the rights of all, since among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace.”

All of this, dear reader, not to mention paintings, monographs, photographs and drawings that have painted his portrait many times, the enormous number of films, series, soap operas, his name on streets, avenues and the metro station, together with the dark rose that mourns him, the danzón and even the whiskey that bears his last name.

Inspiration for many and included in the most outstanding works of his time, both essayists and journalists and chroniclers made him the protagonist of their lyrics. Here is a brief account, dear reader:

Altamirano, father of another republic – the Republic of Letters – wrote the following to him in 1865: “It is easier for the Earth to get out of its axis, for that man to get out of the Republic: that man is not a man, he is duty made flesh… I don’t know the name of the line of land he occupies at this moment: but he is in the Republic, he thinks of the Republic, he works for the Republic and he will die in the Republic and if a corner were left alone in the Homeland, in that shred one would be sure to find the President”.

Biographers like Justo Sierra in “Juárez, his work and his time”; Fernando Benítez in “A Zapotec Indian named Benito Juárez”; Andrés Henestrosa in “Los caminos de Juárez” and Brian Hamnett in “Juárez”, published books that are a delight to read. And then the poets followed. Amado Nervo, for example, included Juárez in his reading before Congress in 1902, as part of his poem “La raza de bronce”, where after speaking of Ilhuicamina, ‘Netzahualcóyotl’ and Cuauhtémoc, he alludes to Juárez thus versifying :

“The last ghost came to my side:
did not come from the bottom of the past
like the others; more of the bronze itself
It was his chest, and in his black eyes
shined, instead of impetus and courage,
the calm coldness of heroism.

And it seemed to me that that man was
serene as the sky in spring
and glacial as a peak that armors
the snow, and that its fate was, in History
build bronze bridges between glory
of yesterday’s race and our race.”

But Nervo was not the only one: Juan de Dios Peza, Manuel José Othón, Guillermo Prieto, Pino Suárez, Rubén Darío and Rafael Delgado, just to name a few, also wrote poetry for Juárez. Even Enrique González Martínez – the one who twisted the neck of the swan of Modernism – dedicated a few verses to him (“Without being stained by the mundane scum / he rises haughty, unwavering and strong, / impassive and serene in the face of death, / serene and impassive in victory”) and many others, born far away like Victor Hugo; natives of nearby lands, such as Pablo Neruda or compatriots of time and sentiment such as Rubén Bonifaz Nuño and Efraín Huerta, dedicated ink from their pen to the Oaxacan hero.

At this point – more than two centuries have passed – it would seem that no one can add anything about the figure of Benito Juárez, add one more page to his bibliography, or say anything that has not already been said. But in reality it is not true, dear reader: today, in your day, you also celebrate it, because you are reading this page and you have reached the end.