The Santiago Mariño Municipality is one of the 18

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

(

municipio ' (, ) and ' () are country subdivisions in Italy and several Hispanophone and Lusophone nations, respectively. They are often translated as "municipality". In the English language, a municipality often is defined as relating to a single city or ...

s) that makes up the

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n state of

Aragua Aragua State ( es, Estado Aragua, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. It is located in the north-central region of Venezuela. It has plains and jungles and Caribbean beaches. The most popular are Cata and Choroni. It has Venezuela's first n ...

and, according to the 2011 census by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality has a population of 211,010. The town of

Turmero Turmero is a city in the state of Aragua in northern Venezuela. It is the capital of Santiago Mariño Municipality. The city was officially established on 27 November 1620 with the founding of a church, ''Iglesia Nuestra Señora de Candelaria'', ...

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 Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of the Santiago Mariño Municipality and

Chuao Chuao is a small village located in the northern coastal range mountains of Venezuela, founded in 1660. The village is famous for its cacao plantations, Diablos danzantes and San Juaneras. The village is surrounded by mountains and dense rainfore ...

where some of the finest

cocoa bean The cocoa bean (technically cocoa seed) or simply cocoa (), also called the cacao bean (technically cacao seed) or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of ''Theobroma cacao'', from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substance ...

s in the world are produced.http://www.ine.gob.ve/secciones/division/Aragua.zip The municipality is named for Venezuelan independence hero

Santiago Mariño Santiago Mariño Carige Fitzgerald (25 July 1788 in Valle Espíritu Santo, Margarita – 4 September 1854 in La Victoria, Aragua), was a nineteenth-century Venezuelan revolutionary leader and hero in the Venezuelan War of Independence (1811– ...

Demographics

The Santiago Mariño Municipality, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, has a population of 191,731 (up from 165,436 in 2000). This amounts to 11.5% of the state's population. The municipality's population density is .

Government

The mayor of the Santiago Mariño Municipality is Francisco J. Gerratana, elected on October 31, 2004 with 62% of the vote. He replaced Efren Rodriguez shortly after the elections. The municipality is divided into five

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

es; Capital Santiago Mariño, Arévalo Aponte (separated from Capital Santiago Mariño parish effective January 30, 1995),

, Samán de Güere, and Alfredo Pacheco Miranda (separated from Samán de Güere parish effective December 16, 1997).

Chuao

Chuao is a small village founded in the 16th century famous in the world for its cacao plantations. The village is surrounded by

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

s and dense rainforests to the south

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

near the

Henri Pittier National Park Henri Pittier National Park is the oldest national park in Venezuela, originally created in 1937 under the name of ''Rancho Grande'' by decree of President Eleazar López Contreras. In 1953 the park was renamed in honor of Henri Pittier, a distin ...

. There is no road access and visitors must come by boat from the town of Puerto Colombia along the coast, or by foot, crossing the mountains and the luxurious cloud forest from

near

Maracay ) , image_skyline = , image_caption =Top:Maracay Municipal Garden and Las Delicias area, Second: Sindoni Tower, Los Tamarindo residential area and overview to Maracay, Third:Maestranza Cesar Giron Bullring Stadium, Girardot Square and Maraca ...

. In the Chuao plantation there are currently pure Criollo and

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

varieties of cacao being grown. Criollo beans from Chuao are of very high quality, and are considered Venezuela's finest beans together with Porcelana Blanca beans from Lake Maracaibo (another genetically pure variety of Criollo).

Amedei Amedei is an artisan chocolate manufacturing company located in Pontedera in the Tuscany region of Italy, considered to be one of the finest chocolate producers in the world. Their products range from chocolate bars to truffles and pralines. The ...

, an Italian chocolate maker, an
Chocolate NAIVE
a Lithuanian bean-to-bar chocolate maker, offer chocolate bars made with Chuao cacao. Naive was the winner of the European gold medal at th
International Chocolate Awards
2014. In November 2000, the cacao beans coming from Chuao region were awarded an

appellation of origin A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, ...

under the title "Cacao de Chuao" (from Spanish ''Cacao de Chuao'') effectively making this one of the most expensive and sought after types of cacao.

Gallery

File:Chuao 2012 001.jpg, Chuao Bay Image:cacao.jpg, Cacao beans Image:Chuao_cacao01.JPG, Chuao cocoa beans under the sun Image:Chuao_002.JPG, Plaza de Secado. The Church yard where the cocoa beans are sun dried Image:Chuao_003.JPG, Plaza de Secado. Boy helping his mother to collect the cocoa beans. Chuao. Venezuela Image:Chuao_004.JPG, Plaza de Secado. The mother collecting the cocoa away from the sun. Chuao. Venezuela Image:Chuao_001.JPG, Cocoa under fermentation process File:Iglesia de Chuao.JPG, Chuao church File:Chuao 2012 003.jpg, Chuao Fishers boats File:Chuao 2012 000.jpg, Chuao new town

References

External links

santiagomarino-aragua.gob.ve
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santiago Marino Municipality Municipalities of Aragua