Chile

• temperate;
• desert in north;
• Mediterranean in central region;
• cool and damp in south

• low coastal mountains;
• fertile central valley;
• rugged Andes in east

total:

12.55 cu km/yr (11%/25%/64%)

per capita:

770 cu m/yr (2000)

• severe earthquakes;
• active volcanism;
• tsunamis

volcanism:

• significant volcanic activity due to more than three-dozen active volcanoes along the Andes Mountains;
• Lascar (elev. 5,592 m), which last erupted in 2007, is the most active volcano in the northern Chilean Andes;
• Llaima (elev. 3,125 m) in central Chile, which last erupted in 2009, is another of the country's most active;
• Chaiten's 2008 eruption forced major evacuations;
• other notable historically active volcanoes include
  • Cerro Hudson,
  • Copahue,
  • Guallatiri,
  • Llullaillaco,
  • Nevados de Chillan,
  • Puyehue,
  • San Pedro,
  • and Villarrica

• widespread deforestation and mining threaten natural resources;
• air pollution from industrial and vehicle emissions;
• water pollution from raw sewage

• the longest north-south trending country in the world, extending across 38 degrees of latitude;
• strategic location relative to sea lanes between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel, Drake Passage);
• Atacama Desert - the driest desert in the world - spreads across the northern part of the country;
• the crater lake of Ojos del Salado is the world's highest lake (at 6,390 m)

noun:

Chilean(s)

adjective:

Chilean

at birth:

1.04 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.98 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.71 male(s)/female

total population:

0.97 male(s)/female (2011 est.)

conventional long form:

Republic of Chile

conventional short form:

Chile

local long form:

Republica de Chile

local short form:

Chile

name:

Santiago

geographic coordinates:

33 27 S, 70 40 W

time difference:

UTC-4 (1 hour ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

• +1hr, begins third Sunday in August;
• ends second Sunday in May;
• note - the end of DST was delayed until 8 May 2011 due to the ongoing energy crisis

note: Valparaiso is the seat of the national legislature

• 15 regions (regiones, singular - region);
• Aisen del General Carlos Ibanez del Campo, Antofagasta, Araucania, Arica y Parinacota, Atacama, Biobio, Coquimbo, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Los Lagos, Los Rios, Magallanes y de la Antartica Chilena, Maule, Region Metropolitana (Santiago), Tarapaca, Valparaiso

note: the US does not recognize claims to Antarctica

chief of state:

President Sebastian PINERA Echenique (since 11 March 2010); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government

head of government:

President Sebastian PINERA Echenique (since 11 March 2010)

cabinet:

Cabinet appointed by the president; (For more information visit theWorld Leaders website)

elections:

• president elected by popular vote for a single four-year term;
• election last held on 13 December 2009 with runoff election held on 17 January 2010 (next to be held 17 December 2013)

election results:

• Sebastian PINERA Echenique elected president;
• percent of vote - Sebastian PINERA Echenique 51.6%;
• Eduardo FREI 48.4%

• Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (judges are appointed by the president and ratified by the Senate from lists of candidates provided by the court itself; the president of the Supreme Court is elected every three years by the 20-member court);
• Constitutional Tribunal (eight-members - two each from the Senate, Chamber of Deputies, Supreme Court, and National Security Council - review the constitutionality of laws approved by Congress)

• Broad Social Movement or MAS;
• Clean Chile Vote Happy or CLVF (including
  • Broad Social Movement,
  • Country Force,
  • and Independent Regionalist Party or PRI)
  ;
• Coalition for Change or CC (also known as the Alliance for Chile (Alianza) or APC) (including National Renewal or RN [Carlos LARRAIN Pena], Independent Democratic Union or UDI [Patricio MELERO], and Chile First [Vlado MIROSEVIC]);
• Coalition of Parties for Democracy (Concertacion) or CPD (including Christian Democratic Party or PDC [Ignacio WALKER], Party for Democracy or PPD [Jaime Daniel QUINTANA Leal], Radical Social Democratic Party or PRSD [Jose Antonio GOMEZ Urrutia], and Socialist Party or PS [Osvaldo ANDRADE]);
• Partido Ecologista del Sur;
• Together We Can Do More (including Communist Party or PC [Guillermo TEILLIER del Valle], and Humanist Party or PH [Danilo MONTEVERDE])

• Roman Catholic Church, particularly conservative groups such as Opus Dei;
• United Labor Central or CUT includes trade unionists from the country's five largest labor confederations

other:

revitalized university student federations at all major universities

APEC, BIS, BRICS, CAN (associate), CD, CELAC, FAO, G-15, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MIGA, MINUSTAH, NAM, OAS, OECD (Enhanced Engagement, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, SICA (observer), UN, UNASUR, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNMOGIP, UNTSO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

chief of mission:

Ambassador Felipe BULNES

chancery:

1732 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036

telephone:

[1] (202) 785-1746

FAX:

[1] (202) 887-5579

consulate(s) general:

Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco

chief of mission:

Ambassador Alejandro D. WOLFF

embassy:

Avenida Andres Bello 2800, Las Condes, Santiago

mailing address:

APO AA 34033

telephone:

[56] (2) 330-3000

FAX:

[56] (2) 330-3710, 330-3160

• two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red;
• a blue square the same height as the white band at the hoist-side end of the white band;
• the square bears a white five-pointed star in the center representing a guide to progress and honor;
• blue symbolizes the sky, white is for the snow-covered Andes, and red represents the blood spilled to achieve independence

note: design was influenced by the US flag

agriculture:

13.2%

industry:

23%

services:

63.9% (2005)

lowest 10%:

1.5%

highest 10%:

42.8% (2009 est.)

• grapes, apples, pears, onions, wheat, corn, oats, peaches, garlic, asparagus, beans;
• beef, poultry, wool;
• fish;
• timber

general assessment:

• privatization began in 1988;
• most advanced telecommunications infrastructure in South America;
• modern system based on extensive microwave radio relay facilities;
• domestic satellite system with 3 earth stations

domestic:

number of fixed-line connections have stagnated in recent years as mobile-cellular usage continues to increase, reaching 130 telephones per 100 persons

international:

• country code - 56;
• landing points for the Pan American, South America-1, and South American Crossing/Latin America Nautilus submarine cables providing links to the US and to Central and South America;
• satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2011)

• national and local terrestrial TV channels, coupled with extensive cable TV networks;
• the state-owned Television Nacional de Chile (TVN) network is self-financed through commercial advertising revenues and is not under direct government control;
• large number of privately-owned TV stations;
• about 250 radio stations (2007)

• gas 3,064 km;
• liquid petroleum gas 517 km;
• oil 895 km;
• refined products 768 km (2010)

total:

7,082 km

country comparison to the world: 28

broad gauge:

3,435 km 1.676-m gauge (850 km electrified)

narrow gauge:

3,647 km 1.000-m gauge (2008)

total:

77,764 km

country comparison to the world: 60

paved:

18,119 km (includes 2,387 km of expressways)

unpaved:

59,645 km (2010)

• 18-45 years of age for voluntary male and female military service, although the right to compulsory recruitment is retained;
• service obligation - 12 months for Army, 22 months for Navy and Air Force (2008)

males age 16-49:

4,324,732

females age 16-49:

4,251,954 (2010 est.)

males age 16-49:

3,621,475

females age 16-49:

3,561,099 (2010 est.)

male:

141,500

female:

135,709 (2010 est.)

• Chile and Peru rebuff Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore the Atacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, but Chile has offered instead unrestricted but not sovereign maritime access through Chile to Bolivian natural gas;
• Chile rejects Peru's unilateral legislation to change its latitudinal maritime boundary with Chile to an equidistance line with a southwestern axis favoring Peru;
• in October 2007, Peru took its maritime complaint with Chile to the ICJ;
• territorial claim in Antarctica (Chilean Antarctic Territory) partially overlaps Argentine and British claims;
• the joint boundary commission, established by Chile and Argentina in 2001, has yet to map and demarcate the delimited boundary in the inhospitable Andean Southern Ice Field (Campo de Hielo Sur)

• transshipment country for cocaine destined for Europe and the region;
• some money laundering activity, especially through the Iquique Free Trade Zone;
• imported precursors passed on to Bolivia;
• domestic cocaine consumption is rising, making Chile a significant consumer of cocaine (2008)