Chiquimula Department
Chiquimula is one of the twenty-two departments that make up Guatemala, located in eastern Guatemala. It limits to the north with the department of Zacapa; to the south with the Republic of El Salvador and the department of Jutiapa; to the east with the Republic of Honduras; and to the west with the departments of Jalapa and Zacapa. It is known in Guatemala as The Pearl of the Orient. It is one of the departments with the worst Human Development Index, with 0.593 It is the most visited department in the country, data from the Guatemalan Tourism Institute estimates that approximately 4 to 5 million people visit this department each year, surpassing the departments of Guatemala, Sacatepéquez and Petén; Esquipulas is the municipality mainly visited. The only two existing cities are the City of Chiquimula and the City of Esquipulas, the first located in the north-west of the department and the second is located in the south-center. It has a population of 388,115 inhabitants, most of whom are young people between 0 and 35 years of age. It is the seventh department with the smallest population. Approximately 93% is made up mostly of mestizos and Creoles, mostly Spanish and German, the other 7% is made up of indigenous people, mostly the Chortís people.
The City of Chiquimula and the City of Esquipulas have historically been the most important cities in eastern Guatemala.
History
Pre-Hispanic period
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The department of Chiquimula is located in the gregographic area known as the Chortí Region, which is an indigenous ethnic group descendants of the Mayan civilization, whose cultural and political center was located in Copán (now Honduras). This ethnic group still persists in this department and there are around 52,000 Chortis. This ethnic group is concentrated in the municipalities of Chiquimula, Jocotán, Camotán and a smaller part of Quezaltepeque. The Chorti manor was one of the most powerful for trade to the south of Mesoamerica.
Colonial period
In 1524, Chiquimula received the first Spanish expedition in its territory carried out by Hernando de Chávez, Juan Durán, Bartolomé Becerra and Cristóbal Salvatierra, among others. In 1526, Juan Pérez Dardón, Sancho de Barahona and Bartolomé Becerra, Spanish captains, invaded this department under the orders of Pedro de Alvarado. The Chortis and other indigenous populations were quick to oppose the conquest of their people, but these actions were quickly put down in 1530 by the Spanish conquistadors. The Spanish captains called this region Chiquimula de la Sierra. This included the departments of Chiquimula, Zacapa, El Progreso and Izabal. This region was fully conquered in 1532.
During the colonial era, the Corregimiento of Chiquimula included the departments of Jutiapa, Jalapa, Chiquimula, Zacapa, El Progreso and Izabal, a territory with an area of 21,313 km², almost 20% of the current territory of Guatemala. The first settlement of Chiquimula was destroyed by a violent hurricane and the earthquakes known as the Santísima Trinidad, in June 1765. At that time it was large and was located in the eastern part of the current head that was built next to the ruins of the church of the Holy Trinity. By the middle of the 18th century the population had reached its peak; apart from the Parish Church, there was a Hermitage, Royal Houses, Weapons Room, public jails, indigenous council, inns and houses. The houses of the main people of the city had tile roofs, while those of the rest of the town were made of straw, leaves or straw; the Royal Houses, for their part, housed the House of Justice and the residence of the Corregidores. The city was made up of the neighborhoods of San Nicolás Obispo -where the main church was-, San Juan, Santa Cruz, San Sebastián and El Calvary.
19th century
Wish for independence
After the creation of the sixth state Los Altos of the Federal Republic of Central America in 1830, which occupied the western part of Guatemala and the state of Chiapas and because Chiquimula had a similar surface area, population and political importance, as well as disagreements with the Guatemalan capital and the Guatemalan government, the authorities of the then Corregimiento de Chiquimula sought the independence of Guatemala to be a new state, but this was not possible.
Annexation to Mexico
On August 11, 1822, neighbors and authorities met in the capitulary of Chiquimula, where an act was drawn up establishing the fact of having given life to the autonomous government of the Province of Chiquimula, separating from Guatemala and uniting with the government of the capital of the kingdom of Mexico, ignoring that of Guatemala and integrating a junta that exercised the political, military and finance government in the entire Province.
Immediately when Guatemala learned what had happened in Chiquimula, military forces were sent under the command of Colonel Pedro José de Arrivillaga with strict instructions to dissolve the nascent government and to bring its members to order. As the separation movement failed, Colonel Arrivillaga forced them to sign an act where they swore allegiance to the Government of Guatemala and Mexico, until July 1, 1823 when Guatemala separated from Mexico.
Formation of the department of Chiquimula
The State of Guatemala was defined as follows by the Constituent Assembly of said state that issued its constitution on October 11, 1825: «the state will retain the name of State of Guatemala and it is made up of the peoples of Guatemala, reunited in a single body. The state of Guatemala is sovereign, independent and free in its government and internal administration."
The Chiquimula region was one of the original departments of the State of Guatemala founded in 1825; its head was the town of Chiquimula, and included the municipalities of Zacapa, Acasaguastlán, Sansaria, Esquipulas, Jalapa, and Mita.
The constitution of the State of Guatemala promulgated on October 11, 1825 also established the circuits for the administration of justice in the territory of the State; The Chiquimula area included District No. 4 Chiquimula, which was distributed as follows:
| N.o | Circuit | People |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chiquimula |
|
| 2 | Acasaguastlán | Atcasaguastlán, San Agustín, Sanarate, Tocoy, Magadalena, Agua Blanca, Chimalapa, San Clemente and Guastatoya. |
| 3 | Jalapa | Jalapa, Santo Domingo, Jilotepeque and Pinula. |
| 4 | Zacapa | Zacapa, Saint Lucia, Saint Paul, Gualán, Izabal, Rio Hondo, Trapiche, Estanzuela, Uzumatán and Teculután. |
And District No. 3 Mita, which was distributed like this:
| N.o | Circuit | People |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mita |
|
| 2 | Jalpatagua |
|
| 3 | Cuajiniquipala |
|
Segregation of the Mita region
On February 25, 1848, the Mita region was segregated from Chiquimula and divided into three departments: Jutiapa, Santa Rosa, and Jalapa. Specifically, the Jutiapa department included Jutiapa as head, Yupiltepeque, Asunción, and Santa Catarina Mita and the surrounding valleys that were Suchitán, San Antonio, Achuapa, Atescatempa, Zapotitlán, Contepeque, Chingo, Quequesque, Limones and Tempisque; In addition, it included Comapa, Jalpatagua, Asulco, Conguaco and Moyuta.
Battle of the Plowing
Historically, Chiquimula had a marked participation in the independence movements, as well as in battles fought during the xix century, the most important being La Battle of La Arada, where the Guatemalan army defeated the invading troops of the liberal governments of El Salvador and Honduras.
On December 4, 1847, the presidential elections took place in El Salvador, in which the liberal Doroteo Vasconcelos was elected for the 1848-1850 biennium. At the end of his term, he left power to Ramón Rodríguez, who returned it to him four days later for a new two-year term. During his government, Vasconcelos repatriated from Costa Rica the remains of the Honduran liberal general Francisco Morazán, and had them buried with state honors in the General Cemetery of San Salvador. Vasconcelos gave asylum to Guatemalan liberals who had been exiled by the conservative government of Rafael Carrera, sparking hostilities between El Salvador and its Central American neighbor. In 1851, the governments of El Salvador and Honduras signed an alliance against Carrera, to eliminate once and for all the last obstacle to the Central American Federation that the liberals longed for, and that Morazán was unable to materialize due to the iron conservative position of Guatemala, and especially, of Rafael Carrera and the Guatemalan clergy.
The armies of both countries entered Guatemala through the department of Jutiapa. The president of Guatemala, Colonel Mariano Paredes, appointed Rafael Carrera -who was he had the supreme command in the country- as General in Chief of the Army, and he immediately began to point out his forces towards Jutiapa, but considering that the main objective of the allies was to take Chiquimula, he himself marched to this department. On January 28, 1851, President Vasconselos sent a long statement to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, asking him -among other things- that General Carrera and his army leave Central America and that the Salvadoran army could occupy a convenient place in Guatemala while they they fulfilled the mentioned points; Vasconcelos warned Guatemala that if it did not agree to the above, war would be inevitable.
The Guatemalan government firmly rejected the liberal proposal, and Carrera's forces that had joined those of Jalapa under the command of General Vicente Cerna y Cerna -and which totaled two thousand troops- went out to meet the allies, retreating and fortifying itself on the heights of San José La Arada. On January 31, the invading army -composed of four thousand five hundred troops- under the command of Vasconcelos and other Central American generals, entered Ipala where they sent a message to Carrera telling him that the French consul offered to mediate and that if after 24 hours he did not received a response, hostilities would break out. Indeed, on February 1, the troops of the invading army entered San José, separated from those of Guatemala only by the river that bears the same name. In the early hours of February 2, the battle began and after a bloody fight, the battle ended at 4 p.m. on the same day, with the victory of the Guatemalan forces.
The defeat of the allied army that invaded Guatemala was crushing; Two allied generals were even seen fleeing the battlefield mounted on the same horse and General Carrera was found fainted under the shade of a tree and with the saber full of blood still in his hand. After this military failure, it was definitively eliminated any possibility of creating the Central American Federation of liberals which, deep down, was not the ideal of seeing "Central America united" Rather, they were economic interests of the groups of economic power, which enjoyed the sympathy of the English who sought to establish themselves in all the territories. Carrera's fight was to protect the country from ending up like Belize, or as happened on the coasts of Honduras, crowded with Englishmen trading illegally and consolidating their power. Carrera reaffirmed in power, Guatemala established a Concordat with the Holy See in 1852 where the State and Church relationship and the conservative power in Guatemala were cemented. The intervention of the Church was because, deep down, it was known that behind the entire liberal movement, the Freemasons were operating, secret societies that crave power, as has happened with all the presidents of Guatemala since independence. and President Vasconcelos had to resign his position and retire from politics.
Omoa Castle Capture in Honduras
Another important historical fact refers to the invasion of Guatemalan territory by the Honduran army in November 1852. After several battles, the Honduran army withdrew and General Carrera, in front of an army gathered in towns of Chiquimula, left for Izabal and from here he sailed to Omoa. He passed through the remains of the Belgian colony in Santo Tomás de Castilla, where he met his son José de él, who had just returned from completing his studies in Europe. The Honduran garrison defending the fort was not very numerous and as soon as they arrived, General Carrera ordered Colonel José Víctor Zavala to attack. The castle surrendered without much resistance on August 24, 1853, but unfortunately for Carrera, his son died in combat.
On his return to Guatemala, General Carrera brought several cannons from the Omoa castle as war booty; one of them stayed in the Chiquimula barracks and the others were transferred to the capital, placing them outside the old Polytechnic School.
Government of Marshal Vicente Cerna y Cerna
During the conservative government of Captain General Rafael Carrera, one of his main allies was Marshal Vicente Cerna y Cerna, who was originally from Chiquimula. Cerna was born in the municipality of Ipala at the beginning of the xix century, and, thanks to his military services under the command of Carrera, he was appointed attorney and Chiquimula mayor; he participated in the Battle of La Arada as a colonel, commanding a faction of the conservative Guatemalan Army when he was mayor of Chiquimula in 1851. Later, he was among the signatories of the act declaring Carrera President for Life of Guatemala in 1854.
In 1863, the Honduran General José María Medina Castejón, with his high command made up of General Florencio Xatruch, among other officers, and Lieutenant Colonel Juan Antonio Medina Orellana, talked with General Rafael Carrera, who assembled an army with Hondurans, Salvadorans and Guatemalans commanded by the then Brigadier General Vicente Cerna y Cerna. Said army invaded Honduras, taking Cucuyagua on June 10 and then "Los Llanos" of Santa Rosa on June 15, getting that after this action, the communities of Gracias a Dios and its surroundings proclaim José María Medina as president of Honduras.;. Finally, they marched towards the capital Comayagua to depose the interim president José Francisco Montes Fonseca. Honduran government troops set fire to the city of Comayagua before fleeing when they saw that Cerna's army outnumbered them. Following this action, Brigadier General Cerna was promoted to Mariscal.
On April 14, 1865, Captain General Rafael Carrera died, and the assembly met on May 3 to elect the man who should replace him as President of the Republic, leaving Marshal Cerna, who was still in office as corregidor of Chiquimula. The Councilor of State, Manuel Francisco González, failed to exceed 26 votes.
Among the achievements of his tenure include the introduction of the telegraph, the study of railway lines and the construction of the port of San José on the Pacific. However, he was not able to foresee the transition from the export of indigo to that of coffee, keeping the country in a state of feudalism, according to the words of Miguel Ángel Asturias in his book Hombres de maíz .
 Poet and Colonel Ismael Cerna. he was taken prisoner when he helped his uncle to exile in Honduras after his overthrow in 1871. From prison, he wrote the poem In prison dedicated to Barrios and the Liberals. |
His authoritarian and repressive style of rule raised the spirits of the liberal opposition. The Serapio Cruz uprising in 1867 was put down and Cerna was re-elected on January 17, 1869, sparking protests led by Luis Rubio, who died in the riots. Cruz and Justo Rufino Barrios rose again but were defeated on January 1, 1870, after which Cruz was beheaded and his head was publicly displayed and carried in a basket from Palencia to Guatemala.
Liberal authors such as Alfonso Enrique Barrientos describe the government of Mariscal Cerna as follows:
«A conservative and retrograde government, badly organized and worse intentioned, piloted the country, centralizing powers in Vicente Cerna, an ambitious military man who, not content with holding the rank of general, had promoted himself to Mariscal, despite that degree did not exist and does not exist in the Guatemalan military organization. The marshal called himself President of the Republic, but in reality he was the foreman of an oppressed and vexed people, a flatterer and a coward who had not even dared to tell the dictator to withdraw from the presidency by threatening him with revolution. br/> Given these statements, some observations are necessary:
- By conservative, retrograde and ill-organized government Barrientos means that there was no separation between Church and State since the conservative government was strongly linked to the power of the regular orders of the Catholic Church, who were then among the main landowners of Guatemala. The close relationship between State and Church in Guatemal had been ratified by the 1852 Concordat, which was in force until the fall of Cerna.
- The oppressed and vetoed people: here it refers to the liberals, who had not dared to rise during the Carrera government (1840-1865) because even the liberal generals like Serapio Cruz had realized that the political and military power of Carrera was considerable and practically invincible, and even fought under their orders. The liberals waited for Carrera to die to rise up and directed against Cerna all the cone that until then had content.
- The rank of Mariscal did exist in the Guatemalan army at the time: after the invasion of El Salvador the officers Serapio Cruz -Tata Lapo- and José Víctor Zavala - the Marshal Zavala- were promoted to Marshals, who had been of great importance in the country's military life in the second half of the century. xix.
20th century
Early 1910s
During the administration of General José María Reyna Barrios, in 1889, the Institute of Arts and Crafts was created, which operated on the premises, where today School No. 2 "Macario Rivas Sotomayor" operates. Many artisans from Guatemala City came to Chiquimula to provide their services in that establishment, one of its directors was Mr. Antonio Silva. In 1904 the Institute was closed. This practical school operated in the building currently occupied by the "Florencia Méndez" school for girls. The building was inaugurated on November 21, 1907, President Manuel Estrada Cabrera's birthday, but unfortunately it was closed due to lack of budget.
Years later, the Institute of Arts and Crafts was reopened, but during the administration of General Jorge Ubico it was closed again, this time forever, its director was Professor Juan Manuel Aguirre.
Early 1950s
The main urban centers of the department were Chiquimula and Esquipulas. The streets of the towns of these municipalities were built in an easterly direction and the avenues in a southerly direction. In these urban centers there was a public font where women came to wash clothes or carry water for their homes.
One of the most used means of communication at the beginning of this decade was the telegraph, since there was no other means by which to communicate, other than through letters. The Post and Telegraph office was located in the city of Chiquimula and it distributed the mail inside the departments by means of a van.
National Liberation
The movement and process prior to the 1954 coup d'état, which overthrew the constitutional president Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán with the logistical support of the United Fruit Company and under the direction of the CIA through Operation PBSUCCESS, is known as National Liberation.. This movement created an army, the Liberation Army, led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. These were recruited in Honduras and Esquipulas; municipality where he remained a refugee and planning the takeover of Guatemala City and the Government Palace.
Coup d'état
In 1951 when Jacobo Árbenz took office as the Guatemalan presidency, he was accused of having communist ideals by opponents of his reformist policies, especially Decree 900 of the Agracia Reform. The CIA (United States Central Intelligence Agency) planned a coup led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas, who was in Honduras at the time. In June 1954, Castillo Armas entered the municipality of Esquipulas together with the so-called Liberal Army, remained a refugee for several days in the town, and it was from there that he sought to ally with other municipalities, and where the Black Christ of Esquipulas was named commander of the National Liberation Movement. In June 1954, a series of signs appeared in the main cities of eastern Guatemala, including Esquipulas, reading: "Liberation Day: those who support Castillo Armas will live, those who support Árbenz will die."
On June 27, 1954, Jacobo Árbenz arrived in the city of Chiquimula, where he formally resigned as president of Guatemala.
On September 1, 1954, Carlos Castillo Armas was sworn in as president of Guatemala. His term came to an end with his assassination on July 26, 1957, considered the first assassination of the xx century in Guatemala.
Guatemalan Civil War
The Rebel Armed Forces, which reorganized from the November 13 Revolutionary Movement (MR-13) in March 1965, established Chiquimula as a strategic corridor between the "Edgar Ibarra" Guerrilla Front, located in the Sierra de the Mines, and the border with Honduras. A unit of the MR-13 reached Olopa, gathering the indigenous Ch'ortís, offering land and freedom. In their organizational work, the MR-13 cadres relied on local leaders of the agrarian movement of the 1950s and on leaders of supporters of the Partido Revolucionario. Many of the people who attended meetings with the guerrillas in the villages were militants or followers of the Revolutionary Party, but not all members of this party were political members of the insurgency. By 1966 the guerrillas controlled several villages in the region, but in November of that year the Army installed a detachment in the municipal seat of Olopa and began an offensive against the insurgency and its collaborators.
The FAR participated in the political contest haranguing the population to vote for Julio César Méndez Montenegro, but when he assumed the presidency the Guatemalan Army, which was the one that actually held power, did not allow him any margin of action, and attempts to reduce violence by both the extreme right and the extreme left were not enough. In fact, during his government, political violence increased. What's more, two years after taking office, the Vice President of the Republic Clemente Marroquín Rojas made public that the president had previously agreed with the army, who, claiming to be the one who decided what was best for the nation, ordered him to give them a hand. free to apply his counterinsurgency strategy in exchange for letting him govern. Thus, a few months after his government, the army began the repression in the countryside and the city. On the other hand, in Río Hondo, Estanzuela, Teculután, Santa Rosalía and other places in the department of Zacapa, the population believed that the guerrillas were going to return to the capital to take power together with Méndez Montenegro, but when they told the population that is not like that, that they must wait and that there is going to be a prolonged war, the inhabitants are disenchanted with the guerrilla movement and the peasants, feeling cheated, for withdrawing their collaboration with the guerilla.
On October 2, 1966, Luis Turcios Lima, a guerrilla commander, died charred in a traffic accident on 11 avenue and 10 street in zone 1 of Guatemala City at 3 in the morning, saving the lady who accompanied him The guerrillas described the death as an attack, arguing that the vehicle in which Turcios Lima was driving had been "modified" so that at a certain speed it "suddenly braked", causing it to overturn and catch fire. The strange thing about the accident is that the guerrilla commander was driving the vehicle, without security or escort, so late at night. The death of Turcios Lima caused a collapse in the ranks of the FAR, but the group tries to recover with the appointment of César Montes.
With the death of Turcios Lima and the counterinsurgency offensive, despair spread in the group and there were desertions and voluntary surrenders to the authorities. It is estimated that by the end of this operation, between 5,000 and 6,000 people had died. At the end of 1968, Colonel Carlos Arana Osorio officially reported that the military actions of the PGT, the FAR and the MR-13 had been neutralized and it was determined that the guerrillas had not "taken root" among the civilian population. Due to his behavior during this offensive, Arana Osorio was known as "the Jackal of the East". The Guatemalan Labor Party tried to sustain the prolonged people's war in three phases, adopted at the Third Congress of the party where the use of all forms of struggle was established as the only option, and confirmed it a year later by defining that the armed struggle "It is the one that will allow access to power." However, faced with the tactical and strategic mistakes made by the party leadership, the FAR disavowed the PGT in 1968 and decided to reorganize and continue the fight alone. The leaders of the subversive groups analyzed the causes of the military defeat and concluded that there were errors in the conception of the revolutionary planning; In addition, the area where they operated did not allow the people to join the armed struggle or join the peasant mass, so the political-military action was ineffective.
After the crushing defeat it suffered in late 1968, a change in mentality occurred within the group, which led it to largely abandon the Castro-inspired 1960s in favor of a much more radical ideology. nationalist and indigenous This change caused a division within the FAR, which was in crisis, forming the Guerrilla Army of the Poor, which emerged at the beginning of 1972 and had the peculiarity of having the support of Catholics committed to the poor who were sympathetic to the Theology of Release.
On December 25, 1977, in the village of El Carrizal, municipality of Olopa, members of the Guatemalan Army captured Demetrio Ramírez and Felipe Gómez Pérez and four unidentified men. The soldiers took them to the village of San José Las Lágrimas, where the military commissioners and members of the “Los Pacheco” Death Squad, who were members of the MLN, were. They were not heard from again. Also that same day, on the road between the village of Horcones, municipality of Esquipulas, and the village of El Carrizal, municipality of Olopa, both in Chiquimula, members of the Guatemalan Army captured Vicente Gutiérrez Linares, who also disappeared.
Visit of Teresa of Calcutta
The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Teresa de Calcutta visited the department of Chiquimula on July 18, 1980. The main reason for her visit was because she would have to inaugurate the Plaza Centroamericana de la Paz, located in the Belén convent, in Cerrito Morola in the city of Esquipulas.
Fall of the guerrillas
In 1982, the FAR joined the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity, but a few months after the de facto government of General Efraín Ríos Montt began, the November 13 guerrilla front was dismantled and its breakup was immediate. After this fall, the guerrillas could not regain strength in the department and for this reason it was one of the main departments in which citizens provided military service.
Start of the peace process
After the informal rapprochement between the Guatemalan government and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) took place in 1981 and 1982, during the government of General Efraín Ríos Montt, who was later overthrown by his defense minister Óscar Humberto Mejia Victors.
On May 14, 1986, the Central American presidents met in the City of Esquipulas, to reach a peace process and end the civil war in Guatemala and El Salvador, and forge peace throughout Central America. Initiative of Guatemalan President Marco Vinicio Cerezo and strongly supported by Costa Rican President Óscar Arias. On May 25, 1986, they signed the first agreement called Esquipulas I, which served as the basis for consolidating the political decision of the rulers and establishing with Esquipulas II in 1987 the procedure to achieve "Firm and Lasting Peace" in the region.
On August 7, 1987, the five Central American presidents signed the Esquipulas II Agreement in Guatemala City.
Signing of the Peace Accords
During 1996, the first negotiations between the government and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity took place. Finally, on December 29, 1996, the Free and Lasting Peace Agreement of the Republic of Guatemala was signed, which culminated in the Guatemalan Civil War. On that date, the peace processes in Central America that began in 1986 ended.
In 1996 and 1997 the first decade of the beginning of the peace process in Central America was commemorated.
Visit of John Paul II to Esquipulas
On December 29, 1996, the City of Esquipulas was visited by John Paul II, it was the second official visit that this country made. His visit was due to the fourth centenary of the Black Christ being carved and brought to this city.
Customs and traditions
During their festivities they carry out religious, social, cultural, sports events and the folkloric dances of: Moors and Christians.
Geography
Location
Chiquimula limits to the north with the department of Zacapa; to the south with the Republic of El Salvador and the department of Jutiapa; to the east with the Republic of Honduras; and to the west with the departments of Jalapa and Zacapa.
| Northwest: Zacapa | North: Zacapa | Northeast: Zacapa |
| West: Jalapa and Zacapa |  | This: Republic of Honduras |
| Southwest: Jutiapa | South: Jutiapa y República de El Salvador | Sureste: Republic of El Salvador |
Climate
Chiquimula is known as one of the hottest departments in Guatemala, however, there are a variety of climates, predominantly hot-arid. Near the Ipala Volcano it has a temperate and sometimes cold climate.
| Classification | Number | Köppen-Geiger | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tropical savanna | 8 | Aw. | El Florido, Camotán, Jocotan, San Juan Ermita, Quezaltepeque |
| Semi-arid heat | 2 | BSh | Chiquimula, San José la Arada |
| Ocean | 1 | Cfb | Olopa |
Hydrography
Regarding its hydrography, within the department there are two main hydrographic basins, whose currents in turn are tributaries of those that discharge their waters to the north into the Caribbean Sea, and to the south, after cross the Republic of El Salvador, flow into the Pacific Ocean.
In the municipality of Camotán, the Copán River enters from Honduras, later known as the Grande or Camotán River and downstream as Jocotán, which after receiving numerous tributaries, in turn discharges into the Grande River, which within the territory of Zacapa is called Grande or Zacapa. To the southeast and south of the department and partially serving as boundaries with Honduras and El Salvador, respectively, are the rivers: Frío and Sesecapa, Anguiatú and Ostúa, among the main ones in the region.
Orography
The central mountain range comes from Jalapa, penetrates the southern part of the department, where it forms the foothills of the Sierra del Merendón on the border of the Republic of Honduras and El Salvador.
Still within the department of Jalapa, in the municipality of San Luis Jilotepeque, the massif known locally as Montaña de Pinula, descends on its eastern side to the valley irrigated by the Colima river, which already within the department of Chiquimula forms to a wide valley in the municipality of Ipala, which to the south has the Ipala volcano.
The mountainous system that penetrates from the department of Zacapa descends to the municipalities of Camotán, Jocotán and Chiquimula. The mountain range is quite irregular and its foothills continue within the municipalities of Chiquimula, Jocotán, Camotán, Olopa, San Jacinto, San Juan Ermita and San José La Arada. Towards the south of the department, the orographic system also forms some plateaus of various heights within the municipalities of Quezaltepeque, Esquipulas and Concepción las Minas which, with their folds, hollows and precipices, are integrated into the Sierra del Merendón.
Of special importance are the hills: Montecristo, which forms a Trifinio with Honduras and El Salvador, and Cerro Brujo, which borders El Salvador, both within the Sierra del Merendón.
Plant life zones
In Chiquimula three life zones can be clearly observed, identified by their topographic condition according to the classification proposed by Holdridge in 1978, these being:
- bs-S Subtropical Dry Forest
- bh-S(t) Tempered Subtropical Forest
- bmh-S(t) Forest Very Tempered Subtropical
The life zone in this department stands out: temperate subtropical humid forest.
Protected areas
The following protected areas are located in Chiquimula: Quezaltepeque Volcano Definitive Closed Zone, with an area not yet determined; Ipala Volcano and Lagoon Multiple Use Area, with 2,010 ha and the Trifinio Biosphere Reserve, with 8,000 ha. These areas are administered by the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP).
Political-administrative organization
The department of Chiquimula is divided into eleven municipalities:
Population of Chiquimula
| N. | Municipality | Population Census 2018 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chiquimula | 111.505 |
| 2 | Jocotán | 66,379 |
| 3 | Camotan | 56.138 |
| 4 | Squipules | 53,556 |
| 5 | Quetzaltepeque | 28,075 |
| 6 | Olopa | 27,511 |
| 7 | Ipala | 22,413 |
| 8 | San Juan Ermita | 16.418 |
| 9 | San Jacinto | 12.619 |
| 10 | Concepción Las Minas | 11,693 |
| 11 | San José La Arada | 8,756 |
| - |  Chiquimula
| 415,063 |
Development
The human development report published in 2022, The speed of change, a territorial view of human development 2002 – 2019, where the change and progress that has occurred in the country between 2002 and 2002 were observed. and 2019. The Department of Chiquimula ranked eighteenth among the 22 departments, being one of the most backward departments in terms of development in the country and the least developed in all of Oriente. Chiquimula has gone from having an IDH of 0.493 to 0.593 in 2018. Chiquimula has 8 municipalities with Medium IDH and 3 with Low IDH. Ipala is the most developed municipality with 0.665 and the lowest HDI in the municipality and also in the country is Jocotán with 0.497.
| N. | Municipality | IDH 2018 | IDH 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ipala | 0.665 | 0.559 |
| 2 | Concepción Las Minas | 0.658 | 0.557 |
| 3 | Chiquimula | 0.639 | 0.570 |
| 4 | Quetzaltepeque | 0.637 | 0.530 |
| 5 | Squipules | 0.627 | 0.559 |
| 6 | San José La Arada | 0.610 | 0.521 |
| 7 | San Jacinto | 0.576 | 0,483 |
| 8 | San Juan Ermita | 0.570 | 0.467 |
| 9 | Camotan | 0.525 | 0.408 |
| 10 | Olopa | 0.525 | 0,403 |
| 11 | Jocotán | 0,497 | 0.368 |
| - | Chiquimula
| 0,593 | 0,493 |
| N. | Municipality | IDH According to Indicators | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health | Education | Level of Life | ||
| 1 | Ipala | 0.871 | 0,513 | 0.659 |
| 2 | Concepción Las Minas | 0.893 | 0.499 | 0.639 |
| 3 | Chiquimula | 0,783 | 0,491 | 0.680 |
| 4 | Quetzaltepeque | 0.817 | 0,493 | 0.641 |
| 5 | Squipules | 0.844 | 0.445 | 0.656 |
| 6 | San José La Arada | 0.798 | 0.445 | 0.639 |
| 7 | San Jacinto | 0,713 | 0.439 | 0.611 |
| 8 | San Juan Ermita | 0.716 | 0.427 | 0.605 |
| 9 | Camotan | 0.662 | 0.394 | 0.555 |
| 10 | Olopa | 0.670 | 0.370 | 0,583 |
| 11 | Jocotán | 0.657 | 0.337 | 0.555 |
| - | Chiquimula
| 0.765 | 0.441 | 0.620 |
Population living in the department according to IDH
| N. | Municipality | IDH 2018 | Population 2018 | According to Development |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ipala | 0.665 | 22,413 | 265,034 |
| 2 | Concepción Las Minas | 0.658 | 11,693 | |
| 3 | Chiquimula | 0.639 | 111.505 | |
| 4 | Quetzaltepeque | 0.637 | 28,075 | |
| 5 | Squipules | 0.627 | 53,556 | |
| 6 | San José La Arada | 0.610 | 8,756 | |
| 7 | San Jacinto | 0.576 | 12.619 | |
| 8 | San Juan Ermita | 0.570 | 16.418 | |
| 9 | Camotan | 0.525 | 56.138 | 150.028 |
| 10 | Olopa | 0.525 | 27,511 | |
| 11 | Jocotán | 0,497 | 66,379 | |
| - | Chiquimula
| 0,593 | ||
Methods of communication
Its extension was much greater, but little by little it was losing districts from 1825.
The main highways that cross the department are: National Route 18, which comes from the capital and leads to Esquipulas; national route 20 that comes from the department of Zacapa, passes through Concepción Las Minas and leads to the border; the CA-10 that passes through Esquipulas and goes to the border with Honduras.
According to data obtained from the General Directorate of Roads, up to the year 1997, this department had 139 km of asphalt, 311 km of dirt roads, and 101 km of rural roads.
Geology
In Chiquimula, Neocomian-Campanian carbonates can be found in a large part of its territory, which includes the Cobán, Ixcoy, Campur, Sierra Madre and Yojoa group (Ksd) formations; rocks from the Paleozoic period, where undivided metamorphic rocks predominate, phyllites, chloritic and garnet schists, schists and quartz gnesses (Pzm); the Quaternary Alluviums (Qa); and geological faults predominate: inferred and covered.
Productive capacity of land
To show what land productive capacity is available in this department, in Guatemala, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, there are 8 classification classes of land productive capacity, based on the combined effects of climate and permanent soil characteristics. Of these 8 agrological classes I, II, III and IV are suitable for agricultural crops with specific cultural practices of use and management; classes V, VI, and VII can be dedicated to perennial crops, specifically natural or planted forests; while class VIII is considered suitable only for national parks, recreation and for the protection of soil and wildlife.
In Chiquimula there are 3 levels that predominate:
- Level VI which are non-cultivable land, except for perennial and mountain crops mainly for forest and pasture purposes, with very severe limiting factors, with depth and rockiness; undulating or broken topography and strong slope.
- Level VII which are non-cultivable land, suitable only for purposes of forest use or exploitation, of very strong topography and broken with very steep slope.
- Level VIII which are land not suitable for all cultivation, suitable only for national parks, recreation and wildlife, and for the protection of watersheds, with very broken topography, steep or flooded playones.
Customs and Traditions
In Chiquimula is one of the most outstanding places of pilgrimage in Mesoamerica, Esquipulas, due to the dedication to the Black Christ, which has generated multiple legends, such as that this Christ is black because he sits on an enchanted hill of the ancestral Mayan settlers, whose deity was a god of Xibalbá who painted himself black.
In the religious aspect, Chiquimula represents the axis-world (center of the world) of Guatemala, since in its bosom is the Sanctuary of the Lord of Esquipulas, one of the most revered places in Guatemala and all of America. The cult of the Black Christ of Esquipulas and its miracles has spread profusely to the south and north of the continent.
The celebrations of the Lord of Esquipulas in the month of January involve pilgrimages, prayers, penances, novenas, fulfillment of promises, offerings, thanks and ex-votos. His rituals form a whole sacred world around his cult.
It must be emphasized that the roots of this veneration are directly connected with the pre-Hispanic Chortí deities, which, syncretized and redeemed by the Spanish since the beginning of colonization, resulted in a wonderful tradition. After Holy Week, this is the most transcendental commemoration in Guatemala.
In the municipalities of Mayan Chortí descent, Mayan New Year ceremonies are celebrated and the tzolkin of Mesoamerican descent is rigorously practiced.
Finally, the religious life of the indigenous and ladinos of Chiquimula revolves around Catholic temples and brotherhoods. In towns and hamlets, this activity focuses on sacred places and ceremonial houses.
It is also known as a place of beautiful women, it is one of the departments with the longest tradition in the most important beauty pageants in the country. Having won the Miss Guatemala crown several times and several national reigns among other national event crowns. She has won 5 Miss Guatemala crowns, Marta Iliana Garlinger Díaz in 1956, Helka Lisbeth Cuevas Berganza in 1989, Narcy Marisela Pérez Hernández in 1992, Carol Anabella Aquino Bonilla in 1997 and Rosa María Castañeda Aldana in 2001. She has also won 9 crowns of the National Reign. of Independence, 1 of Miss Guatemala Latina, 4 of Reina Nacional de la Juventud, 1 crown of Miss Guatemala Mayan and 1 crown of Miss Mesoamerica.
Language
The Chortí language has exerted great influence throughout the department since ancient Mesoamerican times, as it constitutes an unequivocal heritage of the classic Mayan civilization process, since the Chortí ethnic group is considered a direct descendant of it.
Currently, the Chortí language is still used as a means of daily communication in the municipalities of Olopa, Camotán, Jocotán and a little in Quezaltepeque. Chiquimula de la Sierra, as it was always known in colonial times, was colonized by the Spanish and has historically been a meeting point with the provinces of Honduras and El Salvador, which is why the Spanish language is officially spoken and maintains regional characteristics. border with these republics.
Religion
Religion in Chiquimula there are 2 religions that are widely practiced, among them are Catholicism and Protestantism. Catholicism represents 53.3% of the population and Protestantism represents 20% divided into many denominations, while 26.7% of the population does not belong to any religion
Economy
Chiquimula's economy is based on agricultural production, its most important products being corn, beans, rice, potatoes, coffee, sugar cane, cocoa, bananas and tobacco, which has been set up on a special farm. It has large farms raising cattle, which make it stand out from other departments in Guatemala.
An important item of its economy is mining, as it is considered a zone of mining activity, although currently its production has been considerably reduced. In addition to metallic minerals, it is known of the existence of non-metallic minerals such as gypsum, whose quarry is located in the Rincón farmhouse and Los Cimientos Village in the San José La Arada municipality. It is also possible that in Chiquimula there are deposits of bentonite and perlite. A mining company has carried out exploitation work in the village of Cañada in the municipality of Concepción Las Minas, to obtain lead, zinc and silver concentrates.
It can be seen then that Chiquimula, apart from being one of the oldest departments of the Republic, also enjoys excellent conditions due to the quality and variety of its soil, and is rich in mines of silver, lead, iron, copper, antimony, quartz, coal and some gold pans, although these are unexploited.
As for the craft production, it is varied, because due to the abundance of palm, they make braids, hats and brooms; with the mud they make ceramics, tiles and bricks. They also make musical instruments and wooden furniture. In the departmental capital, they work on gourds and gourds, they make candles, leather products and fireworks, the latter, especially in Esquipulas.
Lately, trade has also invaded this region of Guatemala, an example is its head Chiquimula, which is the most important city in all of eastern Guatemala.
In the department of Chiquimulal (100% of its population) there is 70.6% in poverty or 41.1% in extreme poverty according to data from UNDP 2014. [1]
Tourist and archaeological centers
One of the centers with the greatest tourist attraction is the Basilica of Esquipulas, which houses the venerated image of the Black Christ, considered miraculous and attracts thousands of visitors, both national and foreign, who are devotees of the Catholic religion.
Culture
Since the beginning of pre-Hispanic times, Chiquimula has been the most important department in the eastern part of the country due to its geography and ethnic groups.
The two cities of Chiquimula, both the old one and the current one, settled on the remains of an extinct volcano in prehistoric times. For this reason, the city is surrounded by volcanic stones originated by the last eruptions of the volcano. The inhabitants have given them the name chatún.
The origin of the population of Chiquimula was the Chortí ethnic group. It is also a source of minerals such as: lead, iron, silver and blue jade, due to the formation of the soil by volcanic activity.
The attraction of Ipala is the lagoon located in the crater of the volcano also called by the same name, which is why it is highly visited.
It also stands out for its agricultural production, its legends and traditions are the main characteristics of its culture.
Recommended reading
- Fuentes y Guzman, Francisco Antonio de; Zaragoza, Justo (notes and illustrations) (1882) [1690]. Luis Navarro, ed. History of Guatemala or Florida Recording I. Madrid, Spain: American Library. OCLC 699103660.