Paredes y Arrillaga, Mariano [key], 1797–1849, Mexican general and president (1846). A leader of the ultraconservatives, he helped to put Antonio López de Santa Anna into the presidency in 1841 but soon opposed him. In 1845, Paredes led a revolt against José Joaquín Herrera, charging that Herrera was compromising the honor of Mexico by negotiating with the United States concerning Texas. When Paredes came to power he plunged the country into the Mexican War. Although he was made president, Mexico was in a state of anarchy, and the return of Santa Anna destroyed the hopes of Paredes, who went into exile (1847). Later he led an unsuccessful revolution.
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