Cinco de Mayo: How a Mexican holiday became a party in the USA

Mexico City residents take part in a traditional reenactment of the Battle of Puebla—a victory for Mexican forces that took place on the May 5, 1862, or Cinco de Mayo. Although the holiday is celebrated in parts of Mexico, it has become larger than life in the United States.—literally "May 5" in Spanish. And some U.S. partygoers may be surprised to learn that Cinco de Mayo history is short on beer, long on bloodshed.Cinco de Mayo actually commemorates another Mexican army victory.

Mexican President Benito Juarez and his troops march into Mexico City after the 1867 defeat of French Emperor Maximilian, whom Napoleon III had sent to conquer and rule over Mexico.Benito Pablo Juarez Garcia was born in 1806 to Mesoamerican parents in the state of Oaxaca. He was elected to the presidency in 1861 and it was under his leadership that Mexican forces defeated the better-equipped French troops.

The 1862 Cinco de Mayo victory carries a strong anti-imperialist message that resonates with many Mexican Americans, experts say., a professor of Chicano studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. "That was the attitude of the ragtag Mexican troops who faced and defeated the French in Puebla.” He says U.S. corporations, particularly those selling alcohol, were eager to tap into the expanding Hispanic population in the U.S.

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