Cardenal Caro Department ( es, Departamento Cardenal Caro) was one of the departments of Chile located in

Colchagua Province Colchagua Province ( es, Provincia de Colchagua) is one of three Provinces of Chile, provinces of the central Chilean Regions of Chile, region of Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region, O'Higgins (VI). Its capital (political), capital is S ...

Background

There were several attempts to create a department made up by the coastal communes of the

province of Colchagua Colchagua Province ( es, Provincia de Colchagua) is one of three provinces of the central Chilean region of O'Higgins (VI). Its capital is San Fernando. It is bordered on the north by Cachapoal Province, on the east by the Argentine Republic, ...

, including a proposal in the 1910s for the creation of the Rapel Department, composed by the communes-subdelegations of

Matanzas Matanzas (Cuban ) is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas. Known for its poets, culture, and Afro-Cuban folklore, it is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Matanzas (Spanish ''Bahia de Matanzas''), east ...

(currently Navidad),

Pichilemu Pichilemu (, ), originally known as Pichilemo, is a beach resort city and commune in central Chile, and capital of Cardenal Caro Province in the O'Higgins Region. The commune comprises an urban centre and twenty-two villages, including Ciruelo ...

, Rosario Lo Solís (now Litueche), Calleuque (part of

Peralillo Peralillo is a Chilean town and commune in Colchagua Province, O'Higgins Region. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Peralillo spans an area of and has 9,729 inhabitants (5,007 men and 4,722 women). ...

), and La Estrella as the capital; however, the Congress motion failed to attract much interest. Several decades later, on 5 September 1972, President

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

proposes the Congress to create the Peralillo Department, "to decentralize the

Santa Cruz Department Santa Cruz () is the largest of the nine constituent departments of Bolivia, occupying about one-third (33.74%) of the country's territory. With an area of , it is slightly smaller than Japan or the US state of Montana. It is located in the e ...

". Allende said that the Government made that proposal because they were worried about the "serious problems that affect the inhabitants of the communes of the Santa Cruz Department who are at greater distance from the epartment'scapital". The proposed department would be made up by the communes of Peralillo —the proposed capital—,

Marchigüe Marchigüe (), sometimes spelled Marchihue (), is a Chilean town and commune in the Cardenal Caro Province of Chile's sixth region of O'Higgins. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Marchigüe spans an ...

, Pichilemu, Rosario Lo Solís, La Estrella, and

Pumanque Pumanque is a Chilean commune in Colchagua Province, O'Higgins Region. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Pumanque spans an area of and has 3,442 inhabitants (1,793 men and 1,649 women), making the c ...

. Eventually, Peralillo was ruled out as the capital of the future department, despite it would mean a lesser cost to the Government, by "conditioning the commune f Marchigüewith basic services". The department was renamed Cardenal Caro —also called the José María Caro Department—; it was approved by the National Congress and promulgated by President Allende in August 1973. ''El Cóndor'', a newspaper from Santa Cruz, cited Senator Víctor Contreras Tapia: "This is an important step for administrative decentralization and opens the doors for the regional development". The same newspaper also announced a series of festivities, after the '' Fiestas Patrias'' (national holidays), "a real coastal carnival". On 4 September 1973, the ''Diario Oficial de la República de Chile'' published the Law No. 17.965, which made official the creation of Cardenal Caro Department. However, exactly one week later, President Allende was overthrown by a coup d'état, basically making the law "dead text". Years later, however, the

Pinochet regime Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

created the

Cardenal Caro Province Cardenal Caro Province ( es, Provincia Cardenal Caro) is one of the three provinces of the central Chilean region of O'Higgins (VI). The capital of Cardenal Caro is Pichilemu. Name The province is named after Cardinal José María Caro Rodrígue ...

, with the purpose of decentralizing the new

O'Higgins Region The Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region ( es, Región del Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, ), often shortened to O'Higgins Region ( es, Región de O'Higgins), is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is subdi ...

. Its capital is

Background

References

See also