Aragua State ( es, Estado Aragua, ) is one of the 23 states of

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. It is located in the north-central region of Venezuela. It has plains and

jungles A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...

and

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

beaches. The most popular are Cata and Choroni. It has Venezuela's first national park which is called Henri Pittier. The capital is Maracay, other important cities include

Turmero Turmero is a city in the state of Aragua in northern Venezuela. It is the capital of Santiago Mariño Municipality. The city was officially established on 27 November 1620 with the founding of a church, ''Iglesia Nuestra Señora de Candelaria'' ...

and El Limón. Aragua State covers a total surface area of and, based on the 2011 census information, the estimated population of Aragua State in 2012 is 1,630,308 inhabitants.

Etymology

The name of the state comes from an indigenous word of Cumanagoto (Caribbean) origin, which is used to refer to the Chaguaramo, a type of palm from the region uotation requiredHowever, according to Carlos Blanco Galeno, a chronicler from Turmero, it derives from the

Cariban The Cariban languages are a family of languages indigenous to northeastern South America. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Colombian Andes, and they are also spoken in small pocket ...

aregua, and this de are ('site') and gua which in turn derives from ogun ('my thing'), so it would mean 'my place, my country'. This same word inspired the name of the

Aragua River Aragua River flows into the endorheic Lake Valencia in Aragua State, Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of ...

, an important tributary of Lake Valencia.

History

The land where the city of Maracay is located today was granted to Sebastián Díaz Alfaro in the 16th century. After his death the land passed to his son Mateo. At that time these lands were known as Valle de Tucupío and Tepatopo and were used as cattle grazing lands. Towards Tucupío, Tapatapa, Guey and El Rincón,

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...

and

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter an ...

were planted. By the year 1700 about 40 families inhabited the valley, which went to Bishop Diego de Baños y Sotomayor to choose a parish, which was equivalent to giving consistency to the official population center. On March 5, the city of Maracay was founded, taking its name from the Maracay River
Maracay
suffered the vicissitudes of the emancipatory revolution, being of special interest the events of 1812-13 that took place at the La Trinidad

hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or '' finca''), similar to a Roman '' latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchard ...

. Later, in 1816 and 1818, there was the assault of La Cabrera and the battle of Maracay where the patriotic troops were defeated. The Federal War also left its mark on the town, seriously affecting the surrounding countryside. In addition, there was a terrible plague epidemic, apparently caused by the decomposition of fermented indigo, which claimed many victims. The beginnings of Maracay's urban and economic transformation began during the administration of General

Juan Vicente Gómez Juan Vicente Gómez Chacón (24 July 1857 – 17 December 1935) was a Venezuelan military general, Politician and ruler of Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935. He was president on three occasions during this time, ruling through puppe ...

, who resided in the city from the beginning of his government. In 1898, La Victoria was designated as the capital of the state and later, in 1917, it was moved to Maracay, a status it still retains. Iglesia Nuestra Señora de La Candelaria

Conquest and Spanish Colonial Era

Aragua was part of the

Province of Caracas The Venezuela Province (or Province of Caracas) was a province of the Spanish Empire (from 1527), of Gran Colombia (1824-1830) and later of Venezuela (from 1830), apart from an interlude (1528 - 1546) when it was contracted as a concession by the ...

from 1555. European groups later penetrated the area of Aragua than what is now

Carabobo , anthem = '' Himno del Estado Carabobo'' , image_map = Carabobo in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_ ...

or Miranda. It was in the last decade of the 16th century when the Spanish began to implant encomiendas in the Valleys of Aragua. By 1620 all the lands of Aragua were divided among some 40

encomenderos The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. The labourers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they laboured, including military ...

, who lived primarily in the Valley of Caracas. Maracay was founded in 1701. By 1780 La Victoria was a town with about 800 Indians who only spoke Spanish and more than 4 thousand people from other groups, including Spaniards, Creoles,

mestizo (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...

s, blacks and

Zambo Zambo ( or ) or Sambu is a racial term historically used in the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed Indigenous and African ancestry. Occasionally in the 21st century, the term is used in the Americas to refer to persons who are of mixe ...

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister ...

referred to the fact that the population by 1800 in the area of the valleys of Aragua - which at that time included both sides of Lake Valencia - was mostly composed of brown and creole people, apart from zambos and

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and that there were still approximately 5000 registered Indians, most of whom were concentrated in

and Guacara. None of them spoke their ancestral languages anymore.

19th century

Aragua was created as a province on February 11, 1848 when it was separated from that of Caracas, with a territory similar to that which today encompasses the current state of Aragua and composed of La Victoria, Turmero, Maracay, Villa de Cura and San Sebastian, having the city of La Victoria as its capital. In 1864 Aragua became an independent state until 1866, when it merged with Guárico to form the state of Guzmán Blanco. Its capital changed to

Villa de Cura Villa de Cura or Villa de San Luis Rey de Cura () is the main town in the Zamora district of the Aragua state in Venezuela. A small town, very dry between the months of October and April and rainy during the rest of the year, it is best known in ...

in 1881. Finally in 1899 Aragua recovered its status as an autonomous state Iglesia San Martin de Tours II

20th century

In 1917 its capital was moved from La Victoria to Maracay. The dictator

stayed most of his time in Maracay and it was there that he died in 1935. Its definitive limits were established by protocols signed with the bordering states at different times: in 1909 (Miranda), 1917 (Carabobo) and 1933 (Guárico). In 1989 he elected his first governor under direct universal and secret elections which ended the practice of having a government designated from the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or del ...

in Caracas.

Geography

Aragua borders the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexic ...

to the north, with its coastline backed by the fast-rising central

Cordillera mountain range The Cordillera Central or Cordillera Range is a massive mountain range 320 km (198 miles) long north-south and 118 km (73 miles) east-west. The Cordillera mountain range is situated in the north-central part of the island of Luzon, in the Phili ...

. Codazzi Peak reaches over 2400 m above sea level. Much of the rest of the state is made up of fertile valleys used for intensive agriculture, apart from in the extreme south where the flats of the central

Llanos The Llanos ( Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grassla ...

region begin. On the western border is Lake Valencia. The main rivers in the state are the Aragua, the Guárico, the El Limón, the Tuy, the Pao and the

. They flow into the Caribbean Sea, Lake Valencia, or feed the vast

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

network. The Camatagua reservoir is one of the main reservoirs supplying Caracas.

Geology

Four natural regions can be distinguished in the entity: the coastal mountain range, the depression of Lake Valencia, the inland mountain range, and the Central Wavy Plains. In the depression of Lake Valencia, recent sedimentary formations predominate, while the mountainous areas present others that are highly affected by metamorphic processes, although in the presence of nuclei with more conserved igneous and sedimentary rocks. In the mountain ranges of the Interior chain, galleys can be observed, as spurs of that mountain range, which smoothen their forms towards the South until they enter the formation of the plains.

Area

The region has an area of 7,014 km², most of which is mountainous, and represents 0.76% of the Venezuelan territory. The maritime coast of the state extends from Turiamo Bay in the west to Puerto Maya in the east, corresponding to the central section of the Coastal Range. The southern zone of the state runs from the southern piedmont lands of the Caribbean mountain range, through the curve of the 100 meter level that separates the Llanos Altos from the Llanos Bajos to the depression of the Unare River and the San Carlos River that separates it from the Llanos Altos Occidentales.

Relief

One of the largest reliefs in the world crosses the state o
Aragua
in an east-west direction, two parallel mountain ranges, separated from each other by a central depression, which determines the existence of three well-differentiated physiographic regions, which follow each other from north to south. The northern end is hilly with the central stretch of the Litoral mountain range that culminates with El Cenizo peak at 2,436 meters above sea level and Codazzi peak at 2,426 meters above sea level.

Hydrography

The hydrographic network of the state is part of three major points: the tip of the Caribbean Sea, formed by the rivers; San Miguel, Ocumare, Cata, Gaurapito, Aroa and through the river Tuy, the rivers of its upper basin: the Orinoco river basin, formed by the high point and part of the middle point of the

Guárico river Guárico River is a river in Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental l ...

and the middle part of the Memo river and finally, the endorheic point of the Valencia lake where the Aragua,

, Maracay, Caño Grande, Tapatapa, Tocorón and Las Minas rivers pour their waters. In the latter, the surface courses have been considerably reduced, as it is no longer possible to use the water from these rivers for human consumption. These rivers have now become the main collectors of wastewater discharges, both for urban industrial and agricultural use.

Climate

Due to its diversity in relief and altitudes that it possesses in all its extension, there are different thermal floors in which the temperature tends to have different climatic characteristics and temperatures that decrease with the increase of the altitude, in the coastal strip dominates a semi-arid and warm climate, as it is evidenced in Turiamo and Puerto Maya, Although orographic rainfall occurs at elevations on the northern flank of the Serranía de Litoral, allowing for cooler and more humid conditions, which make possible the formation of cloud forests in the Henri Pittier National Park, local conditions allow for greater humidity and warmer temperatures in some coastal coves, such as Chuao, Choroní and Ocumare, which are used in traditional cocoa plantations. At the altitudes of the Coastal Range, an isothermal climate is expressed, reaching in Colonia Tovar, at 1,900 meters above sea level, an average annual temperature of only 15.4 °C and rainfall of 1,000 mm per year. In the depression of Lake Valencia and the valleys of Aragua, warmer conditions are recognized. In Maracay, at 545 meters above sea level, an average annual temperature of 25 °C and annual rainfall of 834 mm are recorded, with a well-defined dry season. In the plain sector, there is a rainy tropical savanna climate, with an average rainfall of 1,100 mm, a rigorous dry season and average annual temperatures of 26 °C.

Soils

The lands of the valleys of Aragua are rich in minerals, as well as fertile; even the mountainous areas are suitable for certain types of crops. There you can find soils with a medium accumulation of organic matter and clay. The banks of the lake show a formation of calcium content due to the presence of fossils. Due to these characteristics, the soil of the state of Aragua is one of the most fertile in the country.

Vegetation

Vegetation ranges from abundant foliage trees, present in the cloud forests of the Henri Pittier National Park, on the Litoral mountain range, to thorny scrub in the coastal area. In the areas of valleys and

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground ...

hs, grasses predominate, accompanied by trees such as kapok, cedar and saman.

Municipalities and municipal seats

Aragua comprises eighteen municipalities ('' municipios''): Lanzamiento en parapentel

# Bolívar ( San Mateo) # Camatagua ( Camatagua) #

Francisco Linares Alcántara Francisco de Paula Linares Alcántara (13 April 1825 – 30 November 1878) was the president of Venezuela (1877–1878) and a member of the Liberal Party of Venezuela. Personal life Francisco Linares Alcántara was born on April 13, 1825 in T ...

( Santa Rita) # Girardot ( Maracay) # José Angel Lamas ( Santa Cruz) #

José Félix Ribas José Félix Ribas (; Caracas, 19 September 1775 – Tucupido, 31 January 1815) was a Venezuelan independence leader and hero of the Venezuelan War of Independence. Early life Ribas was the last of eleven sons, born to a prominent Caracas ...

( La Victoria) #

José Rafael Revenga José Rafael Revenga y Hernández (24 November 1786 – 9 March 1852 venezuelatuya.com/ref>) was a minister of foreign affairs of Gran Colombia (1819–1821). He was the 2nd Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Colombia starting 17 September 1825, ...

( El Consejo) # Libertador ( Palo Negro) # Mario Briceño Iragorry ( El Limón) # Ocumare de la Costa de Oro ( Ocumare de la Costa) # San Casimiro ( San Casimiro) #

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the ...

(

) #

Santiago Mariño Santiago Mariño Carige Fitzgerald (25 July 1788 in Valle Espíritu Santo, Margarita – 4 September 1854 in La Victoria, Aragua), was a nineteenth-century Venezuelan revolutionary leader and hero in the Venezuelan War of Independence (1811� ...

(

) # Santos Michelena ( Las Tejerías) #

Sucre Sucre () is the capital of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the 6th most populated city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high altitude gives the ...

( Cagua) # Tovar ( Colonia Tovar) # Urdaneta ( Barbacoas) # Zamora (

)

Demographics

Aragua State, with 8.28% of the country's total population, is the sixth most populated state in Venezuela. The total population of the state was 2,093,224 inhabitants in 2015. The population is located on the coast and in the lower valleys. The valleys of Aragua are one of the most populated regions of Venezuela, due to the rapid process of industrialization of the city of Maracay and its important metropolitan area of more than 2.1 million inhabitants, of which a little more than 230,000 inhabitants, are part of its area of influence spread between the states of Carabobo and Guárico.

Race and ethnicity

According to the 2011 Census, the racial composition of the population was: The population in the region is very diverse, due to the influence of immigration that existed from the 1950s until the present day. Most of its population is a product of the mixing between Spaniards and local natives or Spaniards and Africans. In the northern part of the state, where the highest population density and the largest urban area in the state are found, the majority of whites are present, especially in the municipalities: Tovar, Mario Briceño Iragorry and Girardot. The Municipality of Tovar, in the north of the state, is populated almost entirely by white people of German descent, since this was the site of the Tovar Colony, a town founded by

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

who immigrated to Venezuela in the nineteenth century. Rancho Abu Hanna Turmero 006

Transport

There are a total of 2,170.5 km of trunk, local, branch and sub-runner roads in the state, of which 47.7% are paved, the most important being the regional highway in the center (Trunk 1) that connects it with the states of Carabobo, Miranda and the

Capital District A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any poli ...

; Trunk 2 that crosses the state from north to south and connects it with the state of Guárico, and the local ones 6 and 7 that go to the coast of Aragüa. Locomotoras del Gran Ferrocarril Venezuela

Locomotoras del Gran Ferrocarril Venezuela

Culture

Handicrafts

In the state there are small towns like Colonia Tovar, Magdaleno, La Villa, Tocorón, Palo Negro, among others. Here you can enjoy a rich artisan heritage typical of their beliefs, lifestyle and wealth, but each town in the region is full of artists and cultured people who in their small workshops manage to enrich the streets and homes with their works and their Creole handcrafted candy, also has in the central area with one of the most representative groups of contemporary craftsmen of the urban feeling located in the corridors of the Museum of Anthropology and History of Maracay.

Traditional Events

*Velorio de Cruz de Mayo. *La Llora. *Toro de colores *San Juan Bautista. *Los Pastores del Niño Jesús de El Limón and Chuao. *Los Diablos Danzantes de Cuyagua, Cata, Ocumare, Turiamo and Chuao.(In Venezuela there are 11 Brotherhoods of which 5 are from Aragua). *Burras Tradicionales. *Joropo Central. *Parranda Central *Gorilas de San Mateo. *Jokilis y Gorilas de la Colonia Tovar.

Museums

*Museo Aeronáutico de Maracay: This museum of military and civil aeronautical technology was created in 1963 in the spaces where the Aragua Air Base and the first Military Aviation School in the country used to operate. Sukhoi Su-30MK2, Venezuela - Air Force JP6336731

Sukhoi Su-30MK2, Venezuela - Air Force JP6336731

*Museum of Anthropology and History of Maracay: The Museum of Anthropology and History contains the archaeological findings of the states of Aragua and Carabobo that were found as of 1889 during the government of General Guzmán Blanco, when the main towns and cities began to be built. Mario Abreu Museum of Contemporary Art (MACMA): with an important collection of plastic arts from the 20th century. *CADAFE Museum: this museum is located in the parish of Choroní, in the Girardot municipality. *Colonia Tovar History and Craftwork Museum: one of the most important and interesting attractions of Colonia Tovar is its museum. In it, its creator, the city's chronicler, Professor Néstor Rojas, has put a great deal of his life into showing visitors and residents a piece of the history of the Colony. *Museo Nacional de Suelos CENIAP: This museum is located in El Limón de Maracay. It has more than 600 soil micromonolites and 11 macromonolites from 20 states in Venezuela. A micromonolite is a small representation of a soil profile accompanied by information regarding the profile (horizons and characterization) and information regarding the collection site of the samples (climate, landscape, use, etc.).

Theatres

*Teatro Ateneo de Maracay: the original name was the "Teatro Circo Maracay" the work was sent to build by General Juan Vicente Gomez to the meridian Epifanio Balza Davila, its architecture is based on the Art Deco style, but due to the bad temper of General Gomez this does not have a particular style. *Maracay Opera House: the work was entrusted to the architect Luis Malaussena, who together with Carlos Raúl Villanueva developed the monumental project full of sobriety within its spectacular nature where horizontal lines predominate while some free spaces compensate for the heaviness of this predominance. Neblina en la Cumbre

Tourism

The state of Aragua is famous within Venezuela especially for the variety and beauty of its beaches, natural monuments, extensive green areas and for the Colonia Tovar, a territory colonized by the Germans.

Henri Pittier National Park

It is the oldest park in the country, since it is the first national park decreed in Venezuela, originally created in 1937 with the name of Rancho Grande and renamed in 1953 with the name of that Swiss geographer, botanist and ethnologist, who arrived in Venezuela in 1917 and classified more than 30 thousand plants in the country. The park has an irregular and abrupt topography. Its geological constitution is basically of metamorphic igneous rock. Likewise, there are rocky coastal environments. Its altitude ranges from sea level to 2430 m at Cenizo peak.

Orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

, ferns and climbing vines abound.

Pico Codazzi Natural Monument

It is one of the highest peaks of the Coastal Range and is characterized by rainforest vegetation on its slopes. It takes its name from the Italian naturalist-cartographer and geographer Agustín Codazzi who arrived in Venezuela in 1827. It was he who promoted the mobilization of German farmers to that area, giving rise to the Colonia Tovar. Choroni en la tarde

Natural heritage

*Onoto Hot Springs *Villa de Cura Hot Springs. *Bay of Cata. *Bay of Turiamo *Choroní. *Ocumare. Turiamo

*Ensenada de Café. *Chuao. * Cuyagua. *Ensenada Juan Andrés. *Ensenada Puerto Maya. *Lake of Valencia. *Tasajera Mountains. *Manantial La Peñita and El Banco. *Codazzi Peak. *Aroa. Torre Sindoni5

Built heritage

*Sindoni Tower. *Ateneo de Maracay Theatre. *House of Culture of Maracay. *Culture House of La Victoria. *Casona de Santa Rita. * Colonia Tovar. *Institute of Anthropology and History of the State of Aragua * Aeronautical Museum. *Archaeology Museum. *Museum of Fine Arts. *History Museum. *Military History Museum. *Casa del Ingenio San Mateo *Ornithological Museum. *Maracay Opera House. * Zoo of Maracay. *El Limón Tower

Politics and government

As a federal state, it is autonomous and equal in political terms to the other members of the

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

, it organizes its administration and public powers through the Constitution of Aragua State, which was adopted in 2002. The same establishes the division of powers into executive and legislative. This Constitution can only be reformed totally or partially by the legislative power of Aragua, and to be approved, they need the absolute majority of the state deputies. Cuartel Mariano Montilla

Executive branch

It is composed of the governor of Aragua and a group of state secretaries who are appointed by him. The governor is elected by the people by direct and secret vote for a period of four years and with the possibility of immediate re-election for an equal period, being in charge of the state administration. Since direct elections for Venezuela state governors in 1989, Aragua has been governed by the Movement for Socialism and PODEMOS (1989 - 2008). The current governor is Daniela González of the PSUV.Juramentan a Daniela González como gobernadora encargada de Aragua
/ref> Like the other 23 federal entities of Venezuela, the State maintains its own police force, which is supported and complemented by the National Police and the

Venezuelan National Guard The Bolivarian National Guard of Venezuela ( es, Guardia Nacional Bolivariana de Venezuela - GNB), is one of the four components of the National Armed Forces of Venezuela. The national guard can serve as gendarmerie, perform civil defense roles, ...

Legislative power

The State Legislature is the responsibility of the Legislative Council of the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

Aragua State, elected by the people through direct and secret vote every four years, being able to be reelected for new consecutive periods, under a system of proportional representation of the population of the state and its municipalities, the State has 9 main deputies and their substitutes, of which 8 belong to the opposition and 1 to the officialism according to the elections held in December 2015. The governor is accountable for his actions to the legislative council and must report to it, which approves the regional budget.