Cinco de Mayo Mishap.

• Author: O'Malie, H. David
• Position: Letter to the Editor

Ilan Stavans's article "Mexico's Ritual of Chance" [January-February 2005] brought back memories of my teenage years as a university student in Mexico City, where I lived, among other places, in a small apartment on the one-block-long Calle de la Loteria National along one side of the Edificio de la Loteria Nacional.

I was surprised, however, to see him refer to the "Battle of Puebla, in which the fateful Cinco de Mayo [1862] marked the clash between the armies of the United States and Mexico." It, of course, did no such thing. It was the temporary defeat of the French by General Ignacio Zaragoza, one of President Benito Juarez's trusted men. However, it changed almost nothing. Puebla was retaken by the French fourteen months later after a two-month siege. The French then went on to occupy Mexico City.

Incidentally, while Cinco de Mayo is a...