Camarones is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and commune in the

Arica y Parinacota Region The Arica y Parinacota Region ( ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It comprises two provinces, Arica Province, Arica and Parinacota Province, Parinacota. It borders Peru's Department of Tacna to the north, Bolivia's La ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. It forms part of the administrative

Arica Province Arica Province () is one of two provinces of Chile's northernmost region, Arica y Parinacota. The province is bordered on the north by the Tacna Province of Peru, on the south by the Tamarugal Province in the Tarapacá Region, on the east the ...

and has a population of 1,220. Its municipality seat is in the town of Cuyo, located next to the

Chile Highway 5 Chile Highway 5 or Route 5 known locally as ''Ruta 5'' is Chile's longest route, . It is part of the Pan-American Highway. Stretch It runs from the Peruvian border connecting with Peru Highway 1 north of Arica to Puerto Montt where it connec ...

. Cuyo is the administrative center of the commune and a place of rest for travellers. The main towns are Codpa and Caleta Camarones. The latter is a fishing inlet of only 44 inhabitants. Codpa is the largest town in the commune, located from the city of

Arica Arica ( ; ) is a commune and a port city with a population of 222,619 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica y Parinacota Region. It is Chile's northernmost city, being located only south of the border with Peru. The city is the ca ...

. It is an entirely rural commune with almost no tourist activity, and is well known for its uncharted areas. The only

Afro-Chilean Afro-Chileans or Black Chileans are Chilean people of Black people, Black African descent. They may be descendants of slaves who were brought to Chile via the trans-Atlantic slave trade, or recent migrants from other parts of Latin America, the ...

community in Chile is located in Camarones.

Demographics

According to the 2002

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of the National Statistics Institute, Camarones had 1,220 inhabitants (745 men and 475 women), and it is a

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

. The population grew by 39% (372 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Camarones is a third-level

administrative division of Chile The administrative division or territorial organization of Chile exemplifies characteristics of a unitary state. State administration is functionally and geographically decentralized, as appropriate for each authority in accordance with the law ...

administered by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

, headed by an

alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...

who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Ivan Martin Romero Menacho. Within the

electoral divisions of Chile This article covers the electoral division of Chile, which involves two distinct systems: # Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chamber of Deputies and Senate of Chile, Senate: Chile is divided into electoral districts and senatorial constituencies for ...

, Camarones is represented in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

by Mr. Nino Baltolu ( UDI) and Mr. Orlando Vargas ( PPD) as part of the 1st electoral district, which includes the entire Arica and Parinacota Region. The commune is represented in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

José Miguel Insulza José Miguel Insulza Salinas (born June 2, 1943) is a Chilean politician, lawyer, and academic serving as a senator for the Arica y Parinacota Region since 2018. He previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 1999 and Ministe ...

(PS, 2018–2026) and José Durana (UDI, 2018–2026) as part of the 1st senatorial constituency (Arica and Parinacota Region and

Tarapacá Region The Tarapacá Region (, ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order Administrative divisions of Chile, administrative divisions. It comprises two provinces, Iquique Province, Iquique and Tamarugal Province, Tamarugal. It borders the Chilean Arica y Par ...

References

External links

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Municipality of Camarones
{{Communes in Arica y Parinacota Region African diaspora in Chile Communes of Chile Populated places in Arica Province