Marcos Paz was Governor of Córdoba and Tucumán Provinces, an Argentine Senator, and Vice President of Argentina from October 12, 1862 until his death in 1868.
Background
Marcos Paz was born to a prominent Tucuman family in 1813. His father was Juan Bautista Paz, a lawyer and legislator who served as deputy governor of the province several times, and his brother was General Gregorio Paz. He married the former Micaela Cascallares, daughter of a wealthy landowner, and settled with her in Buenos Aires.
Education
Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires.
Career
He earned a law degree in 1834. After the fall of Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1852 he joined Justo José de Urquiza in his fight against Bartolomé Mitre"s forces in Buenos Aires, and joined Colonel Hilario Lagos as an adjutant.
The siege was ultimately unsuccessful.
Elected Governor of Tucumán in 1858, Paz took part in the San José de Flores Pact of 1859, which helped secure national unity, and was elected to the 1860 convention that produced the first amendments to the Constitution of Argentina. He then assisted General
Wesceslao Paunero, who was sent as an envoy by Mitre to other provincial leaders, and served briefly in his stead as Governor of Córdoba, from December 1861 to March 1862. When Mitre was away commanding the allied forces during the Paraguayan War, Paz fulfilled the role of acting President.
He died in office on January 2, 1868, in Buenos Aires, as a victim of a Cholera epidemic, and Mitre had to return to Argentina to resume his position as President.
The Marcos Paz Partido, administrative division of Buenos Aires Province and its capital, the town of Marcos Paz are named after him.