PAREDES y ARRILLAGA, Mariano, Mexican soldier, born in the city of Mexico in 1797; died there in September, 1849. He became a cadet in the Spanish service, 6 January, 1812, and had become a captain when, in March, 1821, he adhered to the Plan de Iguala, and participated in the encounters that preceded the occupation of Mexico by the patriot army. In Puebla he pronounced against Hurbide, 11 February, 1823, was promoted lieutenant-colonel, and served afterward on the northwest coast. In 1835 he commanded a brigade under Santa-Anna against the revolution of Zacatecas, and he continued to serve the Centralist party, taking part in the campaign of Morelia in 1841, for which he was promoted major-general and military commander of Jalisco. In August he pronounced against the government, together with Santa-Anna and Bravo, but after the establishment of a military dictatorship under the former, being slighted by the administration, which he thought owed its existence to him, he began to plot against it. He was several times arrested, and at last, to put him out of the way, he was sent to pacify Sonora, but on 1 November, 1844, he pronounced against, the government with his army at Guadalajara. Paredes was successful in overthrowing Santa-Anna, but, lacking the necessary talent for governing, was again passed over in the choice of an executive, and General Jose J. Herrera (q. v.) was appointed. At the beginning of difficulties with the United States, Paredes was appointed commander of the Army of the North, but on his march to the seat of war he headed a rebellion at San Luis Potosi, 14 December, 1845, and at last, on 2 January, 1846, was elected provisional president. His administration was short and remarkable for not taking any measure to repel the American invasion, even after the defeats of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma on 8 and 9 May. Discontent followed, and there were insurrections everywhere, and when Paredes, on 29 July, obtained permission to march to the interior to pacify the state of Jalisco, the revolt of the Ciudadela occurred, by which he was imprisoned and afterward banished, he returned in 1847, when the capital was occupied by the United States forces, and although the government of Queretaro ordered him to present himself, he evaded compliance with the order, and began secretly to conspire against the government. When, after the evacuation of the capital by the United States troops in June, 1848, Father Cenobio Jarauta (q. v.) pronounced in rebellion at Lagos, Paredes joined the revolution openly and marched to Guanajuato, where the insurgents fortified themselves. After the city was taken by General Bustamante, and Jarauta had been shot, Paredes fled and was for several months in hiding, till he was included in the amnesty of April, 1849, and returned to Mexico, where he died five months later.