Andrés Guaçurary or Andrés Guazurarí, popularly known as Andresito (30 November 1778 – 1825) was a ''

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; , from Latin language, Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of Personalist dictatorship, personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise English translation for the term, though it ...

'' of the province of

Misiones Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes P ...

, present-day

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, being governor of said province between 1811 and 1822. He was one of the first federal caudillos of the

United Provinces of the Río de la Plata The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (), earlier known as the United Provinces of South America (), was a name adopted in 1816 by the Congress of Tucumán for the region of South America that declared independence in 1816, with the Sove ...

and the only one of fully indigenous origin. He was born in the '' misión'' of

Santo Tomé, Corrientes Santo Tomé is a city in the province of Corrientes in the Argentine Mesopotamia. It had about 22,634 inhabitants at the . It is the head town of the department of the same name. History Santo Tomé was founded in 1632 by the Jesuit missionaries ...

São Borja São Borja is a city in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. São Borja is the oldest municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and was founded in 1682 by the Jesuits as the first of the Seven Places of the Missions, and na ...

to a Guarani family. He was taken as a foster child by

José Gervasio Artigas José Gervasio Artigas Arnal (; June 19, 1764 – September 23, 1850) was a soldier and statesman who is regarded as a national hero in Uruguay and the father of Uruguayan nationhood. Born in Montevideo, Artigas enlisted in the Spanish ...

who allowed him to sign as Andrés Artigas, to avoid being excluded by his Guarani origins. He served in the

Army of the North The Army of the North (), contemporaneously called Army of Peru (), was one of the armies deployed by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in the Spanish American wars of independence. Its objective was freeing the Argentine Northwest a ...

Manuel Belgrano Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano (3 June 1770 – 20 June 1820), usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano (), was an Argentina, Argentine public servant, economist, lawyer, politician, journalist, and military leader. He to ...

, and in the Artiguista Army during the

Portuguese conquest of the Banda Oriental The Portuguese conquest of the Banda Oriental was the armed-conflict that took place between 1816 and 1820 in the Banda Oriental, for control of what today comprises the whole of the Republic of Uruguay, the northern part of the Argentine Me ...

, as General Commander. He died in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

in 1825. Having achieved the rank of colonel during his service in the armed forces of the United Provinces, in April 2014 he was posthumously promoted to General of the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army () is the Army, land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander-in-chief of the Armed For ...

by presidential decree.CFK: Ascenso a General a Andrés Guacurarí y Artigas
, ''Noticias del 6'', 2 April 2014.

References

1778 births 1825 deaths Federales (Argentina) Argentine generals Argentine people of Guaraní descent People of the Argentine War of Independence People from São Borja {{Argentina-mil-bio-stub