Don Benito… insomniac? Now that I have to go to CDMX often, I have to entertain myself in my free time (if there is any free time left) to do anything.
Now, for example, a bolero that I was talking to before my sleep study at UNAM caught my attention, which opened my eyes to the real Benito Juárez, a character that I normally don’t mention much, considered today of utmost importance by the current government.
An entire encyclopedia of the bolero and its knowledge of the character. Everything came up with the topic of sleep and from there it went like a thread until telling me that Don Benito Juárez suffered from insomnia and that one of his ancestors treated him for this pernicious illness that afflicts half of humanity.
Did you know that Juárez was an insomniac? –he asks me. “No,” I replied. From there it went until the bowling was finished.
Why does this topic seem relevant to me? A complicated condition like insomnia can occur at any time. For example, he tells me: There are two types of insomniacs, those who suffer from it due to nervous problems, or those who cannot fall asleep due to an emotional disorder. I don’t know if this topic is true, or if it is a “new truth.” The fact is that he caught my attention and I told him to keep talking to me.
He spoke very eloquently and I was truly shocked.
–Don Benito had many things on his mind. Dizzy with so much anger he had.
–What things affected him, I asked him.
–The wool that had to be raised for his pockets and of course his insomnia problem. Those two things bothered him. He started smoking some time ago to contain his anxiety and appease his cravings (the bolero tells me that in the basement of his office, he kept several hundred cigars brought from Cuba).
This little Zapotec man, 1.37 centimeters tall, who was never ashamed of his origin, became a lawyer, then a judge, deputy, magistrate, secretary of the government of Oaxaca, governor of his state, minister of justice, president of the Supreme Court of the Nation and president of the republic for 14 years and those that remained, because he still had the courage to continue in office when he died.
To finish the story, he assures me that Juárez was a lover of wool, which he plundered in every position he touched. Like now? I ask him.
With a quiet voice, he answers me as if he were being recorded. He stealthily answers me… “no comments” – a laugh is heard –. Before finishing I asked him the name of the doctor who, according to him, had treated the worthy man. Without hesitation he answered: “Manuel Domínguez, my great-grandmother’s first cousin.”
The first thing I did afterwards was check if there was indeed any history of the doctor and his insomnia. There was indeed a Manuel Domínguez among the doctors who treated Juárez, but I found nothing regarding his insomnia problem.
This time my stay in CDMX was not a complaint about the potholes or the rain. At least I experienced a pleasant anecdote about Don Benito, whether true or not, but entertaining.— Mérida, Yucatán, October 27, 2025