On May 5, 1862, Mexican general Ignacio Zaragoza led his undermanned troops to victory in the First Battle of Puebla over an invading French army that hadn’t been defeated in nearly 50 years. Four days after the battle, President Benito Juárez declared that its anniversary would be a national holiday known as “Battle of Puebla Day” or “Battle of Cinco de Mayo.” But one year later, the French had retaken Puebla and occupied Mexico for another five years after that. Today, Cinco de Mayo is “virtually ignored in Mexico,” with the holiday only observed in the States of Puebla and neighboring Veracruz, with the nation’s real “independence day” celebrated on September 16, to mark the beginning, in 1821, of its struggle for freedom against the preceding 300 years of Spanish rule.
Cinco de Mayo 2020 was peak American capitalism
