Chilecito
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Chilecito is the second most important city in the Argentine province of La Rioja, and head of the department of Chilecito.
It's located in the valley formed by the Sierras de Velasco to the east, and the Sierras de Fátima to the west. The city was founded in 1715 by Spanish colonizators. From its mining past that saw its zenith at the end of the 19th century, the city conserves the cable-cart of the La Mejicana mine.
Chilecito is surrounded by an irrigation oasis where the irrigated area has been able to be increased with the supplement of underground waters. The biggest agrarian surface is used for the cultivation of vineyards, while the most significant industrial activity is based in its wine-cellars. Walnut and fruit trees are also cultivated, whose product is locally processed.
At the end of the 1990s the local faculty dependent of the Universidad Nacional de La Rioja became the Universidad Nacional de Chilecito, a measure harshly questioned by different academic and political sectors, especially considering that the ruling president Carlos Menem was born in that province.
[edit] Population
Chilecito has 29,453 inhabitants (2001 census [INDEC]), what represents a 31% increment in ten years (it had 22,485 in 1991). These numbers include the near localities of Anguinán, Los Sarmientos, San Miguel and La Puntilla. Without them, the population of Chilecito was in 2001 of 25,423 inhabitants.
