Benito Pablo Juárez

Juárez, Benito Pablo (1806–72), Mexican political leader and president (1857–65, 1867–72). He enacted major reforms within the military and the church to reduce their power and redistributed large portions of land to poor farmers (peons). In the mid-1850s, he overthrew the dictator, Santa Anna, and led the nation's liberal faction in the “War of Reform.” Between 1864 and 1867 he fought the French and deposed their puppet emperor, Maximilian.