Department of La Libertad (El Salvador)

Playa del municipio de La Libertad.

Map of La Libertad

La Libertad is a department of El Salvador. Its head is the city of Santa Tecla. It has a territorial extension of 1,653 km² and a population of 843,500 inhabitants (official census, 2018).

History

The department was created in 1865 by a legislative decree that was published in the official government newspaper "El Constitucional" Volume 1, Number 70, on February 9, 1865.

According to the statistics of the department of La Libertad made by Governor José López on May 23, 1865, the department had a population of 16,759 people.

Geography

The Lempa rivers stand out, with a route of 19.5 km in the department, and Sucio, with 32.5 km in the department; the Chanmico lagoon with an area of 0.78 km² and the San Salvador or Quezaltepeque volcano with an elevation of 1959 m s. no. m. The department has a territorial extension of 1653 km².

Beaches

The department of La Libertad has most of the best beaches in the entire country, whether they are to enjoy swimming or practicing some extreme water sport such as surfing, windsurfing, kayaking, etc.

The municipality of La Libertad consists of 16 beaches:

1. Playa Mizata
2. Playa La Perla
3. Playa El Palmarcito
4. Beach km 59
5. Playa El Zonte
6. Playa El Tunco
7. Playa El Sunzal
8. Rio Grande Beach, La Bocana
9. Playa El Majahual
10. Playa San Blas
11. Playa Conchalio
12. Playa Punta Roca
13. Playa La Paz
14. Playa El Obispo
15. Playa Las Flores
16. Playa San Diego

The beaches of El Salvador have the third place in the world scale of the best spots for surfing, and around six world championships have already been held on the beaches of the department of La Libertad.

Administrative division

Municipalities

1. Ancient Cuscatlán
2. Chiltiupán
3. Ciudad Arce
4. Columbus
5. Comasagua
6. Huizúcar
7. Jayaque
8. Jicalapa
9. Freedom
10. Santa Tecla
11. New Cuscatlán
12. San Juan Opico
13. Quezaltepeque
14. Sacacoyo
15. San José Villanueva
16. San Matías
17. St. Paul Tacachico
18. Talnique
19. Tamanique
20. Teotepe
21. Tepecoyo
22. Zaragoza

Economy

The Department of La Libertad is a producer of basic grains, sugar cane, tobacco, coffee, cotton, coconut palms and balsam; It owns metal smelting plants and manufacturers of woven furniture, candles, soap, rubber, leather, and matches. In addition to the exploitation of artisanal fishing and tourism industry.

In the city of Santa Tecla is located the Paseo El Carmen, which has become an important pole of tourist development, and houses a diverse range of restaurants, bars, craft fairs, cultural encounters in the Plaza de la Música, and cultural events that take place in the Tecleño Palace. In addition, in the Port of La Libertad the main activities are the extraction of salt, artisanal and industrial fishing.

La Libertad is the second most developed department of El Salvador according to its HDI, which is the second at the national level, in addition to being industrially highly developed, and it has the most developed city in the country, Antiguo Cuscatlán.

There is also an increase in the pharmaceutical and technological industry, specifically in Santa Tecla and Antiguo Cuscatlán

On February 19, 2021, President Nayib Bukele enabled vehicular passage through the La Libertad Bypass, with said highway tourism has increased, since there is no vehicular traffic.

Religion

The two most important religions in La Libertad are Catholicism and Protestantism. Catholicism represents 16.63% of the population and Protestantism 14.80%. Seventh-day Adventists make up 13.80% of the population, Baptists 10.78%, Mormons 0.84%, Pentecostals 7.93%, Anglicans 3.71%, and Witnesses of Jehovah 13.23% (a very high number of faithful to this religion). Atheists and agnostics represent 0.05%, and believers without religion represent 15.53%, while 0.04% belong to other religions and 2.65% have not yet been specified.

A large part of the Catholics are found in the municipalities of Santa Tecla, among others. Protestants and evangelicals are the majority in Quezaltepeque, among others. Quezaltepeque is one of the cities with the most religions in this department.

Protected Areas

Walter Thilo Deininger National Park.

The department of La Libertad has one of the most important protected areas in the country. The Walter Thilo Deininger National Park is a natural area protected by the government of El Salvador since 2020.

Donated in 1970, the park is an area that has approximately 1,047 manzanas, 732 hectares where there are more than 444 types of trees, which constitute an important habitat for reptiles, birds, mammals and countless insects.

The 1000-year-old tree at Walter Thilo Deininger National Park.

Its name is in honor of the German Walter Thilo Deininger who renounced his German nationality to become one of the largest Salvadoran businessmen who never left aside philanthropic and human activity in the country.

The park consists of three routes of different trails, through which users get to know a diversity of fauna and flora accompanied by a guide.

The park could be divided into two zones, the dry forest and the humid forest. If you visit the park in a time before summer, you can visit a park that looks like two united forests, one in which there are no leaves on the foliage of the trees, only light brown stems, and the other, full of lush foliage in which the color green has predominance.

At one time the sea level reached the height of the park, which is why there are huge stones on which indigenous petroglyphs can be seen today.

Festivities

The municipality celebrates its patron saint festivities in December in honor of the Child Jesus.

References