Canela is one of four commune

Commune

Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...

s in the Choapa Province

Choapa Province

Choapa Province is one of the provinces making up the Coquimbo Region of Chile. It has an area of 10,079.8 km² and a population of 81,681. The capital of the province is the town of Illapel...

 of Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

's north-central IV Coquimbo Region

Coquimbo Region

The IV Coquimbo Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. It is some 400 km north of the capital, Santiago.The capital and largest city is La Serena, other important cities include the seaport Coquimbo and the agricultural centre...

. The capital is the town of Canela Baja.

Administration

As a commune, Canela is administered by a municipal council

Municipal council

A municipal council is the local government of a municipality. Specifically the term can refer to the institutions of various countries that can be translated by this term...

, headed by a directly elected alcalde

Alcalde

Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...

. The municipal building (alcaldía) is located at Luis Infante Nº 520 in Canela Baja. The commune is administered by alcalde Norman Araya (Independent) from 2008 to 2012, who won the election with 49% of the vote against 45% of his nearest rival, former alcalde Nathan Wheat (PC

Communist Party of Chile

The Communist Party of Chile is a Chilean political party inspired by the thoughts of Karl Marx and Lenin. It was founded in 1922, as the continuation of the Socialist Workers Party, and in 1934 it established its youth wing, the Communist Youth of Chile .In the last legislative elections in Chile...

). The commune has a total of six councilors:

1. Bernardo Leyton Lemus (PC)
2. Ana Vega Flores (PPD
   Party for Democracy
   The Party for Democracy is a political party in Chile; it is social democratic in its political orientation. It was founded in December 1987 by Ricardo Lagos, who aimed at forming a legal social democratic party . The party continued to function after the defeat of Pinochet...
   
   )
3. Alejandrina Macaya Cuellar (PRI)
4. Juan Ávalos Ávalos (UDI)
5. Néstor Valle Tapia (PC-Ind.
   Independent (politician)
   In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
   
   )
6. Luz Vega Ramírez (PDC)

Canela belongs to the 9th electoral district

Electoral division of Chile

To elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Senate, Chile is divided into several electoral divisions, namely electoral districts and senatorial constituencies.-Electoral districts:...

 and the 4th Senate District (for that of the Coquimbo Region). It is represented in the Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Deputies of Chile

The Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Chile is the lower house of Chile's bicameral Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current constitution....

 of the National Congress

National Congress of Chile

The National Congress is the legislative branch of the government of the Republic of Chile.The National Congress of Chile was founded on July 4, 1811...

 by the Members Adriana Munoz

Adriana Muñoz

Adriana Muñoz Premier is a Cuban middle distance runner who specialized in the 800 and 1500 metres.At the Pan American Games she won gold medals in both events, the latter in a career best time of 4:09.57 minutes...

 (PPD) and Luis Lemus (PRI). Currently, Coquimbo is represented in the Senate

Senate of Chile

The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chile's bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile.-Composition:...

 by Jorge Pizarro (PDC) and Evelyn Matthei

Evelyn Matthei

Evelyn Rose Matthei Fornet is a Chilean economist and politician.Matthei entered Chilean politics in the late '80s and early '90s, as part of the National Renewal party's youth group called Patrulla Juvenil, along the future President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, and future fellow senator and...

 (UDI

Independent Democrat Union

The Independent Democrat Union is a Chilean right-wing, conservative political party, founded in 1983. Its main inspirer was the lawyer, politician and law professor Jaime Guzmán, a former senator of the Republic of Chile from 1990 until his assassination on April 1, 1991.Its ideological origins...

).

Geography

Canela spans an area of 2196.6 km (1,365 mi). The commune is bordered to the west by the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 and to the north by three communes of the Limarí Province

Limarí Province

Limarí Province is one of three provinces of the Chilean region of Coquimbo Region . Its capital is the city of Ovalle-Geography and demography:...

: Ovalle, Punitaqui

Punitaqui

Punitaqui is a town and commune of Chile in the Limarí Province.-History:Punitaqui was once part of the Ovalle Department before the administrative restructuring of 1976.-1997 earthquake:...

, and Combarbalá

Combarbala

Combarbalá is a Chilean city and commune, located in the Limarí Province, Coquimbo Region. The overall population of the commune is about 14.000 inhabitants, while the population of the city is about 6000 inhabitants...

 to the north and east. To the southeast lies the commune of Illapel

Illapel

Illapel is a Chilean city, which is the capital of the Choapa Province, Coquimbo Region. It lies along the Illapel River and marks the country's narrowest point along a parallel .It's located to the east of Los Vilos.-Administration:...

, and Los Vilos

Los Vilos

Los Vilos is both a Chilean coastal commune and a coastal city with over 9,000 inhabitants , located in the Province of Choapa, part of the IV Region of Coquimbo. Its main activity is fishing. The city also has a significant amount of tourism, mainly due to its two beaches: La Principal and Las...

 borders on the south. Canela Baja is located approximately 12 km (7 mi) east of the Panamerican Highway, Route 5, at kilometer 299.

Climate

The waters of the Canela stream flow into the Choapa River

Choapa River

Choapa River or El Río Choapa is a river of Chile located in the Coquimbo Region. The river rises in the Andes, at the confluence of the streams Totoral, Leiva and Del Valle. The river then flows through the town of Salamanca before it meets with its main tributary, the Illapel River...

, which drains into the Pacific Ocean. The area's climate is steppe or semiarid. The average annual precipitation is about 169.51 mm (7 in).

Demographics

According to data from the 2002 Census of Population and Housing, the Canela commune had 9,379 inhabitants; of these, 1,744 (18.9%) lived in urban area

Urban area

An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...

s and 7,635 (81.4%) in rural areas. Thus, the Canela population represents 1.5% of regional population and 11.4% of the provincial population.