José Andrés Pacheco de Melo (17 October 1779 – approx. 1820) was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

statesman and priest. He was a representative to the

Congress of Tucumán The Congress of Tucumán was the representative assembly, initially meeting in San Miguel de Tucumán, that declared the independence of the United Provinces of South America (modern-day Argentina, Uruguay, part of Bolivia) on July 9, 1816, fro ...

which on 9 July 1816 declared the Independence of Argentina. Pacheco de Melo was born in

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic ce ...

and studied there alongside Martín Güemes. He entered the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

of Our Lady of Loreto in Córdoba and was ordained in 1801 by Bishop Moscoso of Tucumán. Pacheco de Melo became a priest to the , an indigenous people in the present south and southwest of

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

and far north of Argentina. There, he used his position to assist the revolutionary forces in

Alto Perú Upper Peru (; ) is a name for the land that was governed by the Real Audiencia of Charcas. The name originated in Buenos Aires towards the end of the 18th century after the Audiencia of Charcas was transferred from the Viceroyalty of Peru to th ...

. He was elected by the Chichas to the Tucumán Congress and was there in 1816 for the Declaration of Independence, although there had been a long debate about the legitimacy of his election. After the Congress moved to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Pacheco de Melo chaired it in 1818. He subsequently served as a government minister in Mendoza. The year of his death is unclear, believed to have been in 1820.

References

1779 births 1820 deaths Members of the Congress of Tucumán 19th-century Argentine Roman Catholic priests People from Salta Argentine monarchists {{Argentina-reli-bio-stub