Benito Juárez on the Bayou
A new novel brings to life the legendary Mexican president’s mysterious months in exile in New Orleans.
This article is adapted from AQ's special report on food security in Latin America In his memoirs, the iconic Mexican President Benito Juárez sums up his time living in exile in New Orleans in two terse sentences, primarily outlining the length of his stay (18 months). Accounts from contemporaries give us a few details: a job rolling cigars, meetings with other revolutionaries. But those months, from December 1853 to June 1855, are, for the most part, a lacuna in Juárez’s otherwise well-documented life. Into that lacuna steps Yuri Herrera, one of Mexico’s most venerated writers,...
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