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 Chile



Geography

Total area: 756,950 km²; land area: 748,800 km²; includes Isla de Pascua (Easter Island) and Isla Sala y Gómez

Comparative area: slightly smaller than twice the size of Montana

Land boundaries: 6,171 km total; Argentina 5,150 km, Bolivia 861 km, Peru 160 km

Coastline: 6,435 km

Maritime claims:
 * Contiguous zone: 24 nm
 * Continental shelf: 200 nm
 * Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
 * Territorial sea: 12 nm

Disputes: short section of the southern boundary with Argentina is indefinite; Bolivia has wanted a sovereign corridor to the South Pacific Ocean since the Atacama area was lost to Chile in 1884; dispute with Bolivia over Río Lauca water rights; territorial claim in Antarctica (Chilean Antarctic Territory) partially overlaps Argentine claim

Climate: temperate; desert in north; cool and damp in south

Terrain: low coastal mountains; fertile central valley; rugged Andes in east

Natural resources: copper, timber, iron ore, nitrates, precious metals, molybdenum Land use: 7% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 16% meadows and pastures; 21% forest and woodland; 56% other; includes 2% irrigated

Environment: subject to severe earthquakes, active volcanism, tsunami; Atacama Desert one of world's driest regions; desertification

Note: strategic location relative to sea lanes between Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel, Drake Passage)

People

Population: 13,082,842 (July 1990), growth rate 1.6% (1990)

Birth rate: 21 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 18 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 70 years male, 77 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 2.5 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun—Chilean(s); adjective—Chilean

Ethnic divisions: 95% European and European-Indian, 3% Indian, 2% other

Religion: 89% Roman Catholic, 11% Protestant, and small Jewish population

Language: Spanish

Literacy: 94%

Labor force: 3,840,000; 38.6% services (including 12% government), 31.3% industry and commerce; 15.9% agriculture, forestry, and fishing; 8.7% mining; 4.4% construction (1985)

Organized labor: 10% of labor force (1989)

Government

Long-form name: Republic of Chile

Type: republic

Capital: Santiago

Administrative divisions: 13 region (regiones, singular—región); Aisén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, Antofagasta, Araucania, Atacama, Bíobío, Coquimbo, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Los Lagos, Magallanes y Antártica Chilena, Maule, Región Metropolitana, Tarapacá, Valparaiso

Independence: 18 September 1810 (from Spain)

Constitution: 11 September 1980, effective 11 March 1981; amended 30 July 1989

Legal system: based on Code of 1857 derived from Spanish law and subsequent codes influenced by French and Austrian law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

National holiday: Independence Day, 18 September (1810)

Executive branch: president, Cabinet

Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congreso Nacional) consisting of an upper house or Senate and a lower house or Chamber of Deputies

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Corte Suprema)

Leaders: Chief of State and Head of Government—President Patricio AYLWIN (since 11 March 1990)

Political parties and leaders: National Renovation (RN), Sergio Jarpa, president; Radical Party (PR), Enrique Silva Cimma; Social Democratic Party (PSD), Eugenio Velasco; Christian Democratic Party (PDC), Andrés Zaldivar; Party for Democracy, Ricardo Lagos; Socialist Party, Clodomiro Almeyda; other parties are Movement of United Popular Action (MAPU), Victor Barrueto; Christian Left (IC), Luis Maira; Communist Party of Chile (PCCh), Volodia Teitelboim; Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) is splintered, no single leader; several leftist and far left parties formed a new coalition in November 1988 with Luis Maira as president; the 17-party Concertation of Parties for Democracy backed Patricio Aylwin's presidential candidacy in December 1989

Suffrage: universal and compulsory at age 18

Elections: President—last held 14 December 1989 (next to be held December 1993 or January 1994); results—Patricio Aylwin 55.2%, Hernan Büchi 29.4%, other 15.4%;

Senate—last held 14 December 1989 (next to be held December 1993 or January 1994); seats—(47 total, 38 elected) 17-party Concertation of Parties for Democracy 22;

Chamber of Deputies—last held 14 December 1989 (next to be held December 1993 or January 1994); seats—(120 total) Concertation of Parties for Democracy 69

Communists: 120,000 when PCCh was legal in 1973; 50,000 (est.) active militants

Other political or pressure groups: revitalized university student federations at all major universities dominated by opposition political groups; labor—United Labor Central (CUT) includes trade unionists from the country's five-largest labor confederations; Roman Catholic Church

Member of: CCC, CIPEC, ECOSOC, FAO, G-77, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB—Inter-American Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, ITU, LAIA, OAS, PAHO, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Octavio ERRAZURIZ; Chancery at 1732 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20036; telephone (202) 785-1746; there are Chilean Consulates General in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco; US—Ambassador Charles A. GILLESPIE, Jr.; Embassy at Codina Building, 1343 Agustinas, Santiago (mailing address is APO Miami 34033); telephone [56](2) 710133 or 710190, 710326, 710375 61