Plácido Vega y Daza

General Plácido Vega Daza (1830–1878) was a native of El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico. He was the son of Francisco de la Vega and María Dolores Daza, grandson of General Esteban Nicolás de la Vega y Colombo. His family owned vast lands and valleys, gold mines and were the main political influence in northern Mexico. Plácido Vega did not sympathize with his family's lifestyle and ideology (repression of the poor). He was an intellect with a violent character, and found in the military a career that best suited his intellect and destructive temperament. At the age of 29 he became governor of the state of Sinaloa. He has direct descendants to the present time.

Political career

When President Benito Juárez led Mexico's resistance against the French Intervention, financial and military support from outside of Mexico was desperately sought after. In 1864, General Plácido Vega, by then a 3rd division central army General, was sent by Juárez on a secret mission to California, to meet with leading Mexican-American 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. As an officer of the Union Club, he contributed both time and money working on Abraham Lincoln's 1864 re-election.

Brief Timeline

*19 August 1858: Plácido Vega proclaimed "El Plan de El Fuerte", in favor of the Constitution of 1857
*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)
* http://mazatlandecimononico.com/invasionfrancesa.html (Spanish. Plácido Vega as Sinaloa's Governor during French Intervention)
* http://mazatlandecimononico.com/placidovega.html (Spanish. Plácido Vega as spy and arms buer in San Francisco)