In Argentina and Uruguay, a barrio is a division of a

municipality officially delineated by the local authority at a

later time, and it sometimes keeps a distinct character from
others (as in the barrios of Buenos Aires even if they have
been superseded by larger administrative divisions). The
word does not have a special socioeconomic connotation
unless it is used in contrast to the centro (city center or
downtown). The expression barrio cerrado (translated
"closed neighborhood") is employed for small, upper-class,
residential settlements, planned with an exclusive criterion
and often literally enclosed in walls (a kind of gated
community).
In Colombia, the term is used for any urban area
neighborhood whose geographical limits are determined
locally. The term does not have any implication of social
class, as it is used to refer to not only working-class areas
but also well-to-do ones. The term barrio de
invasin or comuna is more often used to refer to shanty
towns, but the term "barrio" has a more general use.
In Cuba and Spain, the term barrio is used officially to
denote a subdivision of a municipio (or municipality);
each barrio is subdivided into sectors.
In Puerto Rico, the term barrio is used to denote a
subdivision of a municipio and its lowest officially recognized
administrative unit.[1][2] A barrio in Puerto Rico is not vested
with political authority.[3] It may, or may not, be further
subdivided into sectors, communities, urbanizaciones, or a
combination of these, but such further subdivisions, though
popular and common, are unofficial.[4]
In the Philippines, the term "barrio" once referred to a rural
village, but it has now been changed by law to the
term barangay, the basic unit of government.
The United States usage of the term barrio is also found
in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, where barrio is
commonly given to slums in the outer rims of big cities such
as Caracas and Santo Domingo as well as lower- and
middle-class neighborhoods in other cities and towns. Well-
known localities in the United States containing a sector
called "Barrio" include Manhattan (Spanish Harlem), East
Los Angeles, California; Second Ward, Houston,
Texas, Chicago, Illinois, and Miami, Florida (Allapattah).
Some of them are referred to as just "El Barrio" by the locals
and nearby residents.