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

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

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, ...

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 Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Salta Province, the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the List of cities in Argentina, 7th most-populous ...

and studied there alongside Martín Güemes. He entered the

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

of Our Lady of Loreto in

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

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 Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

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

Upper Peru 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, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, 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