Which Mexican president’s government did the French intervention challenge in 1862?

The French intervention challenged the government of Mexican president Benito Juárez in 1862.

Juárez, a Liberal reformer and former president of Mexico’s Supreme Court, led the republic during a period of political and financial crisis. After the Reform War, Mexico suspended payments on foreign debts. France used the dispute as an opening for military intervention, while Britain and Spain eventually withdrew after negotiations.

The Mexican victory at Puebla protected Juárez’s republican government temporarily, but France later occupied Mexico City and supported a monarchy under Maximilian. Juárez continued the republican resistance from outside the capital. After French troops withdrew, republican forces defeated the empire and restored the government in 1867. Cinco de Mayo is thus connected to Juárez’s defense of constitutional republican rule, not to Mexican independence from Spain.