Causes: Arts and Culture
“BENITO JUAREZ-CHILD TO MAN”
The Benito Juarez Monument, the fourth bronze statue
in the XII Travelers Memorial of the Southwest series
sculpted by Ethan Taliesin Houser, will be placed at
the Chamizal National Memorial.
The statue and the accompanying medallion with the heads
of Abraham Lincoln and Benito Juarez will reinforce
the symbolic relationship of the friendship between
Mexico and the United States. Such a commemoration was
promised in 1963 in the subdocuments of the Chamizal Treaty.
In 1964, Ciudad Juarez erected a statue of Abraham Lincoln
on the Mexican side near the Chamizal, but we never fulfilled
our part of the bargain.
The larger-than-life sculpture depicts two versions of Juarez-
as a 12-year old seated on a bench as an illiterate Zapotec
Indian sheepherder from Oaxaca and presiding as Mexico’s greatest
President of the Republic for nine months in Paso del Norte
(now Ciudad Juarez). There is room between the two Juarez
renderings to sit on the public art sculpture and reflect
or take a selfie.