Victorino de la Plaza

Victorino de la Plaza
de la Plaza with the presidential sash.
President of Argentina
In office 10 August 1914 – 11 October 1916
Vice President	Vacant
Preceded by	Roque Sáenz Peña
Succeeded by	Hipólito Yrigoyen
Vice President of Argentina
In office 12 October 1910 – 9 August 1914
President	Roque Sáenz Peña
Preceded by	José Figueroa Alcorta
Succeeded by	Pelagio Luna
Personal details
Born	2 November 1840 Payagosta, Salta, Argentina
Died	2 October 1919(1919-10-02) (aged 78) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Political party	National Autonomist Party
Spouse	Epifanía Ecilda Belvis Castellanos (1870–1875)
Profession	Lawyer

Victorino de la Plaza (2 November 1840 – 2 October 1919) was an Argentine politician and lawyer who served as President of Argentina from 9 August 1914 to 11 October 1916.

As the second son of José Roque Mariano de la Plaza Elejalde and Manuela Silva; his older brother, Rafael de la Plaza, was also a politician and acted as governor of Santiago del Estero Province.

He studied law in Buenos Aires and obtained his doctorate in 1868, became secretary of Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield and collaborated on the writing of the Argentine Civil Code, and was Treasury Minister under Nicolás Avellaneda (1876), later Interventor in Corrientes Province (1878) and Foreign Minister (1882) and Treasury (1883–1885) during the first Julio Argentino Roca administration. He was elected vice president for the National Union presided by Roque Sáenz Peña in 1910, and assumed the presidency after the death of Sáenz Peña and governed between 1914 and 1916. He died of pneumonia after retiring from politics.

He was the last president of what was called the conservative period of Argentine history. This period began in 1880 and culminated with La Plaza's loss of the presidency to the Radical Civic Union. This was all thanks to the Sáenz Peña Law, which established secret, compulsory voting for all those on the electoral register, thanks to Compulsory military service.