Plácido Vega y Daza

General and Governor of the Mexican state Sinaloa, Don Plácido de la Vega Daza y Colon de Portugal (1830–1878) was a 13th generation descendant of Viceroy and 1st Admiral of the Ocean Sea Cristopher Columbus (via Columbus' grand daughter Isabel Colon de Toledo, who Married the 1st Count of Gelves, Jorge Alberto de Portugal y Melo), and was also direct descendant of Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. His ancestors were members of royalty and nobility of Spain (i.e. Dukes of Veragua), Portugal, England, France, and Germany (Hohenstaufen family) among many others. In the late 1700s, his family settled in New Spain (Mexico) 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, Sinaloa, Mexico. Born to Don Francisco Xavier de la Vega y Esquer and María Dolores Daza, great grandson of [Don 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).  He was an idealist with strong temperament, and found in the military a career that best suited his intellectual and idealistic pursuits.  His present day descendants reside in Northern Mexico and the United States.

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 de la 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.