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<DIV>Cinco de Mayo salutations, y'all.</DIV>
<DIV>This celebration has always seemed a little strange to me.</DIV>
<DIV>It is a celebration of Mexico's victory over the French at the battle of
Puebla on the 5th of May 1862.</DIV>
<DIV>The dirty little secret about this is the fact that on May 17th 1863
the French retook the city. </DIV>
<DIV>The French had invaded Mexico because it was not making payments on debts
to its European lenders.</DIV>
<DIV>Not wanting to be cheated on good faith loans France did not
discourage easily.</DIV>
<DIV>They went on to capture the Capital and on May 28th 1864 Maximilian
was formally crowned Emperor of Mexico.</DIV>
<DIV>So May turned out to be a pretty good month for the French after all.</DIV>
<DIV>Unfortunately for France, the American Civil War came to an end the
next year.</DIV>
<DIV>Had it not been for the U.S. freebees to the Mexican rebels most
people in south Texas would now hear les sons du francais.</DIV>
<DIV>Being from Louisiana, I would not mind that at all.</DIV>
<DIV>Perhaps Mexico should pick another month and day to celebrate since the May
5th victory was so short lived.</DIV>
<DIV>As for me, today I will adorn myself with the fleur de lis
and seek a sassy French beer.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I include wikipedia sites not so much for the accuracy of
their facts, but rather for the cool art work they usually use.</DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_intervention_in_Mexico">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_intervention_in_Mexico</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Paix,</DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Andy size=3>MARIVS</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">"what shall it profit a man,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">if he shall gain the whole world,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">and lose his own soul ?"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Andy size=1></FONT> </DIV></DIV>
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