San Juan de la Costa is a commune 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...

, located in the Osorno Province

Osorno Province

Osorno Province is one of the four provinces in the southern Chilean region of Los Lagos . The province has an area of and a population of 221,509 distributed across seven communes . The provincial capital is the city of Osorno....

 in the Los Lagos Region

Los Lagos Region

Los Lagos Region is one of Chile's 15 regions, which are first order administrative divisions, and comprises four provinces: Chiloé, Llanquihue, Osorno and Palena. The region contains the country's second largest island, Chiloé, and the second largest lake, Llanquihue.Its capital is Puerto Montt;...

. The capital town of Puaucho (on Spanish Wikipedia) is located 34 km from Osorno

Osorno, Chile

Osorno is a city and commune in southern Chile and capital of Osorno Province in the Los Lagos Region. It had a population of 145,475, as of the 2002 census...

. San Juan de la Costa is known for its large population of indigenous Huilliche

Huilliche

The Huilliche is an ethnic group of Chile, belonging to the Mapuche culture. They live in mountain valleys in an area south of Toltén River and on Chiloé Archipelago...

s. This commune is characterized by a large coastline suitable for ecotourism, especially spas Pucatrihue (on Spanish Wikipedia) and Maicolpué (on Spanish Wikipedia), the port of Bahía Mansa (on Spanish Wikipedia), and the ethnic tourism of the Huilliche culture.

Demographics

According to the 2002 census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

 of the National Statistics Institute

National Statistics Institute (Chile)

The National Statistics Institute of Chile is a state-run organization of the Government of Chile, created in the second half of the 19th century and tasked with performing a general census of population and housing, then collecting, producing and publishing official demographic statistics of...

, San Juan de la Costa spans an area of 1517 sqkm and has 8,831 inhabitants (4,814 men and 4,017 women). Of these, 902 (10.2%) 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 7,929 (89.8%) in rural areas. The population fell by 9.7% (947 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, San Juan de la Costa is a third-level administrative division of Chile 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 an 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...

 who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Javier Oyarzo Ruiz (RN

National Renewal (Chile)

National Renewal , is a liberal conservative political party belonging to the Chilean right-wing political coalition Coalition for Change in conjunction with the Independent Democratic Union and the Chile First movement...

).

Within the electoral divisions of Chile, San Juan de la Costa 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....

 by Javier Hernández (UDI) and Sergio Ojeda (PDC

Christian Democratic Party

Christian democratic parties are those political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social teaching, and it continues to be influential in Europe and...

) as part of the 55th electoral district, (together with Osorno

Osorno, Chile

Osorno is a city and commune in southern Chile and capital of Osorno Province in the Los Lagos Region. It had a population of 145,475, as of the 2002 census...

 and San Pablo

San Pablo, Chile

San Pablo is a Chilean town and commune located in the Osorno Province in the Los Lagos Region. It is located 27 km from the city and provincial capital of Osorno. The commune is mostly rural. Its activity is almost entirely agricultural and ranching...

). The commune 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 Camilo Escalona Medina (PS

Socialist Party of Chile

The Socialist Party of Chile is a political party, that is part of the center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. Its historical leader was the late President of Chile Salvador Allende Gossens, who was deposed by General Pinochet in 1973...

) and Carlos Kuschel Silva (RN) as part of the 17th senatorial constituency (17).

External links

Municipality of San Juan de la Costa