Cardenal Caro Department (Spanish : Departamento Cardenal Caro) was one of the departments of Chile located in Colchagua Province. [1]
There were several attempts to create a department made up by the coastal communes of the province of Colchagua, including a proposal in the 1910s for the creation of the Rapel Department, composed by the communes-subdelegations of Matanzas (currently Navidad), Pichilemu, El Rosario (now Litueche), Calleuque (current Peralillo commune), and La Estrella as the capital; however, the Congress motion failed to attract much interest. [2]
Several decades later, on 5 September 1972, President Salvador Allende proposes the Congress to create the Peralillo Department, "to decentralize the Santa Cruz Department". Allende said that the Government made that proposal because they were worried about the "serious problems that affect the inhabitants of the communes of the Santa Cruz Department who are at greater distance from the [department's] capital". The proposed department would be made up by the communes of Peralillo —the proposed capital—, Marchigüe, Pichilemu, Rosario Lo Solís, La Estrella, and Pumanque. [2]
Eventually, Peralillo was ruled out as the capital of the future department, despite it would mean a lesser cost to the Government, by "conditioning the commune [of Marchigüe] with basic services". The department was renamed Cardenal Caro —also called the José María Caro Department—; it was approved by the National Congress and promulgated by President Allende in August 1973. [2]
El Cóndor, a newspaper from Santa Cruz, cited Senator Víctor Contreras Tapia: "This is an important step for administrative decentralization and opens the doors for the regional development". The same newspaper also announced a series of festivities, after the Fiestas Patrias (national holidays), "a real coastal carnival". [2]
On 4 September 1973, the Diario Oficial de la República de Chile published the Law No. 17.965, which made official the creation of Cardenal Caro Department. However, exactly one week later, President Allende was overthrown by a coup d'état, basically making the law "dead text". [2]
Years later, however, the Pinochet regime created the Cardenal Caro Province, with the purpose of decentralizing the new O'Higgins Region. Its capital is Pichilemu. [2]
The Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region, often shortened to O'Higgins Region, is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is subdivided into three provinces. It is named in honour of Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, one of Chile's founding fathers.
Colchagua Province is one of three provinces of the central Chilean region of O'Higgins (VI). Its capital is San Fernando. It is bordered on the north by Cachapoal Province, on the east by the Argentine Republic, on the south by Curicó Province, and on the west by Cardenal Caro Province.
Cardenal Caro Province is one of the three provinces of the central Chilean region of O'Higgins (VI). The capital of Cardenal Caro is Pichilemu.
The Mayor of Pichilemu is an elected politician who is the head of the executive branch of government of the commune of Pichilemu, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region, Chile. The mayor presides over the local city council, composed of six members, and serves as the civic representative of the commune. The mayor is popularly elected in a municipal election, by simple majority. The office is held for a four-year term without term limits.
José María Caro Martínez was a Chilean politician and civil servant. In May 1894, he was unanimously elected as the first mayor of the commune of Pichilemu, with Pedro Nolasco de Mira and Francisco Reyes made second and third magistrate respectively. Caro Martínez had previously served for several years as administrator or llavero of the San Antonio de Petrel hacienda and, between 1891 and 1892, was the Subdelegate of the 13th Subdelegation of San Fernando Department which comprised the district of Cáhuil.
San Miguel de las Palmas is a Chilean village located east of Pichilemu and San Antonio de Petrel, and southwest of Sauce. It is part of the commune of Marchigue.
Julio Diego Ibarra Maldonado is a Chilean politician. Ibarra was the Governor of Cardenal Caro Province since he was appointed by President of Chile Sebastián Piñera on March 16, 2010. He left office on March 12, 2014.
The governor of Cardenal Caro Province was the appointed head of government of the provincial government in Cardenal Caro Province, Chile between 1979 and 2021. The governor was designated by the president.
Aníbal Pérez Lobos is a Chilean lawyer and politician, member of the Party for Democracy (PPD).
The Peralillo Department was a proposed Chilean department in September 1972 by President Salvador Allende Gossens, with the purpose of de-centralizing the Santa Cruz Department. Peralillo was proposed as the capital of the department by the Member of the Chamber of Deputies Héctor Ríos. The communes which were proposed to form the department were the capital, Marchigüe, Pichilemu, Rosario Lo Solís, La Estrella and Pumanque.
Carlos Ignacio Rojas Pavez was the 28th Mayor of the commune of Pichilemu, office which he held between May 1967 and May 1971. For almost three decades, Rojas Pavez worked as the municipal secretary of Pichilemu, and in 1944, along with José Arraño Acevedo and Miguel Larravide Blanco, founded Pichilemu, a newspaper focused in local stories.
Washington Saldías Fuentealba was the 29th Mayor of the Chilean commune of Pichilemu, office which he held between May 1971 and September 1973: his term was interrupted by the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, which put General Augusto Pinochet in the power of the country, and who later appointed Carlos Echazarreta Iñiguez as the successor of Saldías. Saldías was also regidor of the commune of Pichilemu between 1963 and 1971, and a founding member of the Club Aéreo de Pichilemu.
Víctor Eduardo Parraguez Galarce was the 32nd Mayor of the commune of Pichilemu, office which he held between 1975 and 1979, after being appointed by the government junta presided by General Augusto Pinochet. Parraguez Galarce is also an agricultural entrepreneur, and had an important role in the committee that prompted the creation of the province of Cardenal Caro, in his home region.
José Lino Vargas Jorquera is a Chilean politician. He was the 33rd Mayor of the commune of Pichilemu, office which he held between 1979 and 1981, after being appointed by the government junta presided by General Augusto Pinochet. The Cardenal Caro Province, of which Pichilemu is the capital, was created during Vargas' term as mayor. He also was a founding member of the Club Aéreo de Pichilemu ; Vargas is an experienced pilot.
El Puerto was a biweekly newspaper published in Pichilemu, Chile, by San Fernando newspaper editor Augusto A. Ramírez O.. El Puerto was only published in three issues: the first on 16 January and the last on 5 February 1908. It was the first newspaper published in the commune of Pichilemu, and aimed to be an "absolute and exclusive organ to the regional interests of Colchagua, especially [those] of the port of Pichilemu." El Puerto included a scientific section written by a physician, chronicles, and literary content such as poems.
El Marino was a Chilean daily newspaper, based in Pichilemu, Cardenal Caro province. It was founded on 14 January 1917 by newspaper editor Augusto Ramírez Olivares, and circulated between January and March 1917.
Teresa Mercedes del Carmen Núñez Cornejo is a Chilean public administrator and politician. Núñez was the Governor of Cardenal Caro Province from 2014 to 2018.
Pichilemu, originally known as Pichilemo, is a beach resort city and commune in central Chile, and capital of Cardenal Caro Province in the O'Higgins Region. The commune comprises an urban centre and twenty-two villages, including Ciruelos, Cáhuil, and Cardonal de Panilonco. It is located southwest of Santiago. Pichilemu had over 13,000 residents as of 2012.
Colchagua was a province (region) of Chile between 1826 and 1976. Its capital was located in San Fernando during most of its existence. For some years, Curicó and Rancagua were capitals of Colchagua.
The presidential provincial delegate of Cardenal Caro Province is the appointed head of government of the provincial government in Cardenal Caro Province, Chile since 2021. The delegate is designated by the president.