Plácido de la Vega Daza y Colón de Portugal (1830–1878) was a General and Governor of the Mexican state

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales. It is located in northwest Mexic ...

Origins and ancestry

He was descended directly from Cristopher Columbus' great-great-grandson, the Admiral and 3rd Duke of Veragua and Marquis of Jamaica, D. Nuno Alvares Pereira Colón de Portugal y Fernández de Córdoba, and his second wife, Luisa de Aragón y Zapata. From the 17th century to the 18th century his family was heir to the famous Majorat or " El Mayorazgo de la Colonas" established in Pontevedra, Spain by his ancestors D. Miguel Henríquez Flores and Dª. Jerónima de Vargas Machuca. In the mid 18th century, his family settled in the northern Mexican city of Culiacán, Sinaloa which was then New Spain, and became the major political and commercial influence of Northern Mexico. His family owned vast lands, valleys, and gold mines, but he did not sympathize with his family's ideology of repression of the poor. Although members of his family had previously held his position as Sinaloa governors, he prevented his relatives from having access to politics (with major consequences) when he became governor at the age of 29. Plácido de la Vega was a native of El Fuerte de Montesclaros,

, Mexico. Born to Francisco Xavier de la Vega y Esquer and María Dolores Daza, great-grandson of Baltasar Ignacio de la Vega Enríquez y Colón de Portugal (member of the family of the

Dukes of Veragua Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ...

) and Ana Irene de la Puente y Villegas). He was an idealist with strong temperament, and found in the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

a career that best suited his intellectual and idealistic pursuits.

Political career

When President

Benito Juárez Benito Pablo Juárez García (; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Mexican politician, military commander, and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. A Zapotec peoples, Zapotec, he w ...

led Mexico's resistance against the French Intervention, financial and military support from outside of Mexico was desperately sought after. In 1864, General Plácido de la Vega, by then a 3rd division central army General, was sent by Juárez on a secret mission to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, to meet with leading

Mexican-American Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...

families of Contra Costa to seek support for the constitutional government of Mexico and the movement for independence. Seeking additional political influence, General Vega also became a vice-president of the Union Club of San Francisco ( Pacific-Union Club). As an officer of the Union Club, he contributed both time and money working on

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

's 1864 re-election.

Brief timeline

*19 August 1858: Plácido Vega proclaimed "El Plan de El Fuerte", in favor of the

Constitution of 1857 The Political Constitution of the Mexican Republic of 1857 (), often called simply the Constitution of 1857, was the Liberalism in Mexico, liberal constitution promulgated in 1857 by Constituent Congress of Mexico during the presidency of Ignacio ...

*4 June 1859: Plácido Vega is made governor of Sinaloa *December 1860: The oppressive Bishop Pedro Loza Pardavé is brought to justice by Plácido Vega.

External links

* http://www.debate.com.mx/eldebate/index.asp? * http://omega.ilce.edu.mx:3000/sites/estados/libros/sinaloa/html/sinalo.html (Spanish. The best reference on the web about Plácido Vega) * https://web.archive.org/web/20170516205242/http://mazatlandecimononico.com/ (Spanish. Plácido Vega as Sinaloa's Governor during French Intervention) *http://www.debate.com.mx/eldebate/Articulos/ArticuloGeneral.asp?idArt=10230265&IdCat=6087&Page=2 *http://www.xenealoxia.org/linaxes/celebridades/1530-colon-pontevedra *http://www.cristobal-colon.com/2010/11/ramon-sobrino-buhigas/ *http://www.debate.com.mx/eldebate/Articulos/ArticuloPrimera.asp?idArt=10281366&IdCat=6087&Page=2 *http://ssh.org.mx/sitio/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Realidad.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Vega Y Dasa, Placido 1830 births 1878 deaths People from Sinaloa Mexican generals Mexican people of Italian descent

Origins and ancestry

Political career

Brief timeline

See also

External links