AT&T celebrates Cinco de Mayo
http://www.att.com/features/0596/cinco.html
Cinco de Mayo is a date of great importance for Mexican culture and history. It marks the victory of the Mexican Army over the French at the Battle of Puebla. Althougth the Mexican army was eventually defeated, the "Batalla de Puebla" came to represent a symbol of Mexican unity and patriotism. With this victory, Mexico demonstrated to the world that Mexico and all of Latin America were willing to defend themselves of any foreign intervention.
Cinco de Mayo's history has its roots in the French Occupation of Mexico. The French occupation took shape in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. With this war, Mexico entered a period of national crisis during the 1850's. Years of not only fighting the Americans but also a Civil War had left Mexico devastated and bankrupt. On July 17, 1861, President Benito Juarez issued a moratorium in which all foreign debt payments would be suspended for a brief period of two years, with the promise that after this period, payments would resume.
The English, Spanish and French refused to allow president Juarez to do this, and instead decided to invade Mexico and get payments by whatever means necessary. The Spanish and English eventually withdrew, but the French refused to leave. Their intention was to create an Empire in Mexico under Napoleon III. Some have argued that the true French occupation was a response to growing American power and to the Monroe Doctrine (America for the Americans). Napoleon III believed that if the United States was allowed to prosper, it would eventually become a power in and of itself.
In 1862, the French army began its advance. Under General Ignacio Zaragoza, 5,000 ill-equipped Mestizo and Zapotec Indians defeated the French army in what came to be known as the "Batalla de Puebla" on the fifth of May.
In the United States, the Batalla de Puebla came to be known as simply Cinco de Mayo and many people wrongly equate it with Mexican Independence which was on September 16, 1810, nearly a fifty year difference. Over the years, Cinco de Mayo has become a holiday that many people see as a time for fun and dance. Cinco de Mayo has become more of Mexican American holiday than a Mexican one as Cinco de Mayo is celebrated on a much larger scale here in the United States than it is <http://qqq.com/mexico/fiestas.html>celebrated in Mexico. People of Mexican descent in the United States celebrate this significant day with parades, mariachi music, folklorico dancing and other types of festive activities.