Guelatao de Juárez

Guelatao is a small Zapotec village on Highway 175, a few kilometers from Capulálpam, and it is famous for one person. Benito Juárez, the Zapotec boy who became president of Mexico and led the country through the Reform War and the French intervention, was born here on March 21, 1806. Orphaned young, he grew up herding sheep, and at twelve he left on foot for the city of Oaxaca, barely speaking Spanish.

The name comes from the Zapotec for "little lake," and the villagers also translate it as "enchanted lake." That lake, the Laguna Encantada, is still the heart of the village. Next to it stands the statue the community likes best: young Benito as a shepherd with his sheep, near the spot where, the story goes, he used to graze them. A newer bronze shows him as an adult, seated beside a wall with his best-known line, "Respect for the rights of others is peace."

The Sala Homenaje a Juárez, a small museum opened in 1967 on the site of the house where he was born, displays photographs, documents and other objects about his life. Guelatao is quiet most of the year, but on March 21 it fills with officials, schools and visitors for the anniversary of his birth.