Peñalolén (

Mapudungun Mapuche ( , ; from 'land' and 'people', meaning 'the people of the land') or Mapudungun (from 'land' and 'speak, speech', meaning 'the speech of the land'; also spelled Mapuzugun and Mapudungu) is either a language isolate or member of the s ...

"fraternal meeting place") is a

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 ...

an commune in Santiago Province,

Santiago Metropolitan Region Santiago Metropolitan Region () is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions. It is the country's only landlocked administrative region and contains the nation's capital, Santiago. Most commercial and administrative centers are loc ...

. It was founded on 15 November 1984.

History

The commune was founded on 15 November 1984. In 2019, Chilean police arrested a local family, accusing them of drug trafficking. The Peñalolén organization was reported to be one of the largest in the Santiago area, operating throughout the city.

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, Peñalolén spans an area of and has 216,060 inhabitants (105,528 men and 110,532 women), and the commune is an entirely

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

. The population grew by 20.2% (36,279 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Statistics

*Area: 54.2 km²Sistema de Información Regional
, Ministry of Planning of Chile. *Population: 238,177 (2006 projection) *Average annual household income: US$43,856 ( PPP, 2006) *Population below poverty line: 8.7% (2006) *Regional quality of life index: 74.35, medium, 26 out of 52 (2005) *

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...

: 0.743, 52 out of 341 (2003)Las Trayectorias del Desarrollo Humano en las Comunas de Chile (1994-2003)
."

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

, ''Gobierno de Chile, Mideplán''.

Administration

As a commune, Peñalolén 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 ...

(mayor) who is directly elected every four years. The 2024-2028 alcalde is Miguel Concha Manso ( FA). The communal council has the following members: * Sebastián Villouta Seguel ( REP) * Valentina Escobar Petit ( REP) * Ignacio Sánchez Pino ( RN) * Carla Caro Figueroa ( RN) * Begoña Torres Kurth ( UDI) * Cristián Jofré Delgado ( PPD) * Iván Tapia Peñaloza ( FA) * Daniela López Awad ( FA) * Claudio Hernández Olivares ( PH) * Juan Cantuarias Cantuarias ( PS)

Mayors

Since 1984, Peñalolén has had six mayors: *María Angélica Cristi (1984–1989, appointed by Pinochet) *Carlos Alarcón (1989–1993, appointed by Aylwin) *Carlos Echeverría (1993–1996) *Carlos Alarcón (1997–2004) * Claudio Orrego (2004-2012) *Carolina Leitao (2012–2024) *Miguel Concha Mans (2024-) Peñalolén 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 Jaime Pilowski ( PDC) and José Antonio Kast ( UDI) as part of the 24th electoral district (together with La Reina). 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 ...

by Manuel José Ossandón ( RN) and Carlos Montes ( PS) as part of the 8th senatorial constituency (Santiago-East).

University

Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

References

External links

*
Municipality of Peñalolén
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penalolen Populated places in Santiago Province, Chile Geography of Santiago, Chile Communes of Chile Populated places established in 1984 1984 establishments in Chile