General Plácido Vega y Dasa (1830–1878) was the Governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Vega y Dasa was a direct descendant of Explorer, Viceroy, and 1st Admiral of the Ocean Sea Cristopher Columbus and Filipa Moniz de Perestrello e Melo (surname was originally Pallastrelli), and subsequently of Nuño Alvarez Pereira y Colón de Portugal (4th Duke of Veragua and 5th Admiral of the Ocean Sea) and Aldonza Espinosa de Portocarrero, a Portuguese Noble woman. Plácido Vega was a native of El Fuerte, Sinaloa

Sinaloa

Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. Born to Francisco Xavier de la Vega y Esquer and María Dolores Dasa, grandson of Esteban Nicolás de la Vega de la Puente y Colon de Portugal y Villegas and Maria Rita de Esquer (Esteban Nicolas de la Vega was the son of Spanish immigrant to the New Spain (currently Mexico) Baltasar Ignacio de la Vega Enriquez y Colón de Portugal (member of the family of the Dukes of Veragua) and Ana Irene de la Puente y Villegas). General Vega's 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

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

 a career that best suited his intellect and destructive temperament. At the age of 29 he became governor of the state of Sinaloa

Governor of Sinaloa

List of governors of the Mexican state of Sinaloa:Name PartyTermJesús AguilarJuan S. MillánRenato Vega AlvaradoFrancisco LabastidaAntonio Toledo CorroAlfonso G...

. His present day descendants reside in Northern Mexico and the United States.

Political career

When President Benito Juárez

Benito Juárez

Benito Juárez born Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...

 led Mexico's resistance against the French Intervention

French intervention in Mexico

The French intervention in Mexico , also known as The Maximilian Affair, War of the French Intervention, and The Franco-Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico by an expeditionary force sent by the Second French Empire, supported in the beginning by the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Spain...

, 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

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, to meet with leading Mexican-American families of Contra Costa

Contra Costa

Contra Costa can refer to:*Contra Costa County, California* 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

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

's 1864 re-election

United States presidential election, 1864

In the United States Presidential election of 1864, Abraham Lincoln was re-elected as president. The election was held during the Civil War. Lincoln ran under the National Union ticket against Democratic candidate George B. McClellan, his former top general. McClellan ran as the "peace candidate",...

.

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 (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