The Julio César Salas Municipality is one of the 23

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

(

municipio A ' () or ' () is an administrative division in several Hispanophone and Lusophone nations, respectively. It is often translated as "municipality." It comes from ''mūnicipium'' (), meaning a township. In English, a municipality often is define ...

s) that makes up the

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n state of Mérida and, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality has a population of 15,300. The town of Arapuey is the

shire town A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equivalent term, shire town, is used in ...

of the Julio César Salas Municipality.http://www.ine.gob.ve/secciones/division/Merida.zip

History

Its origins date back to 1915 when the area was designated as Arapuey Village. With the construction of the

Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...

, it gained importance and became Julio César Salas Foreign Municipality, linked to the former Miranda District (today Miranda Municipality). Then, in 1988, it became Julio César Salas Autonomous Municipality. On January 15, 1992, the administration of Palmira

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Miranda Municipality was transferred to Julio César Salas Municipality. Historically, the northern territory has remained in dispute with

Zulia State Zulia State (, ; Wayuu language, Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the States of Venezuela, 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Vene ...

which sees it as an integral part.

Geography

It is the northernmost municipality of Mérida. It is divided into two regions, a plateau formed by its proximity to

Lake Maracaibo Lake Maracaibo () is located in northwestern Venezuela, between the states of Zulia, Trujillo, and Mérida. While Maracaibo is commonly referred to as a lake, its current hydrological characteristics may better classify it as estuary and/or ...

and another mountainous area located in the Venezuelan

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

. Elevations range from 80m in the north to 2,000m in the south, in the Andean foothills. The north is in a tropical moist forest biome, and the rest of the municipality is a submontane moist forest. Temperatures vary between 25 °C and 32.5 °C and average annual precipitation is 1,000mm. The main waterways are the Alguacil, Arapuey and Quince rivers.

Demographics

The Julio César Salas Municipality, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, has a population of 15,300 (up from 12,569 in 2000). This amounts to 1.8% of the state's population. The municipality's population density is .

Government

The mayor of the Julio César Salas Municipality is Silvio Luis Torres Vasquez, elected on October 31, 2004, with 50% of the vote. He replaced Antonio Vielma shortly after the elections. The municipality is divided into two

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es; Julio César Salas and Palmira.

References

External links