Santa Cruz Barillas

Climate

The climate in the municipal seat is temperate, in the northern part, specifically in the Ixcán region, the climate is predominantly warm and very humid. The cold regions include it in the southwestern area.

According to the Köppen climate classification, its climate has three variants:

- Rainy Equatorial Tropical Climate (Af): this climate is present in the northeastern area of the municipality, since there are abundant tropical forests and jungles adjacent to the Ixcán Zone, and it has a low altitude at sea level (between 400 and 1050 meters above sea level).

- Humid Subtropical Climate (Cfa): Its climate is located in the center and in the municipal seat, its elevations are between 1100 and 1500 meters above sea level.

- Subhumid Mountain Climate (Cwb): it is present in the southwestern area of the municipality, where the high elevations of the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes are located, including the villages of El Quetzal and Nucá.. They are located between 1,550 and 3,000 meters above sea level, so this region is very cold.

In most of the municipality its rainfall is, in part, very high compared to other municipalities in the country. However, in the central and northeastern zones of the municipality, an average of 3,400 mm per year is recorded, with the northeastern zone being the one that receives the highest annual accumulated amounts (4,000 mm on average), due to being located in the tropical forest zone and, furthermore, The humidity coming from the Petén jungles means that they do not advance towards the south, causing a shock in the area of the Cuchumatanes mountain range, causing it to accumulate abruptly and therefore receive very constant rains. While in the southwestern part, they receive less precipitation due to the great heights of the Cuchumatanes mountain range.

Average climate parameters of Santa Cruz Barillas
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	29.8	31.2	32.8	33.8	33.7	32.5	31.8	32.1	31.3	30.6	30.0	29.6	31.6
Average temperature (°C)	23.4	23.4	25.8	26.9	27.3	26.8	26.3	26.5	26.0	25.4	24.4	23.6	25.5
Temp. medium (°C)	17.1	17.4	18.8	20.1	21.0	21.1	20.9	20.9	20.8	20.3	18.9	17.6	19.6
Total precipitation (mm)	117	88	68	85	192	553	577	518	572	465	225	157	3617
Source: Climate-Data.org

The predominant bioclimatic units in the municipality have the following characteristics:

Geographical location

The municipal seat of Barillas is located on a small plain in the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, on the northern bank of the Cambalam River, in a geographical location of 15° 48' and 05” north latitude and 91° 18' and 45” west longitude, at an altitude of 1,450 meters above sea level. Huehuetenango is made up of 33 municipalities, among which is Barillas. It is the largest municipality in territorial area and despite its poverty it is the most important due to its influence on the economy of the department.

The municipality of Barillas borders like this:

• North: Mexico
• This: Chajul, Nebaj and Ixcán, municipalities of the department of Quiché
• South: Santa Eulalia (Huehuetenango), municipality of the department of Huehuetenango
• West: San Mateo Ixtatán, municipality of the department of Huehuetenango.

	North: Mexico Mexico
West: San Mateo Ixtatán		This: Ixcan Chajul Nebaj
	South: Santa Eulalia

Municipal government

Municipalities are regulated by various laws of the Republic, which establish their form of organization, matters relating to the formation of their administrative bodies and the taxes allocated to them. Although they are autonomous entities, they are subject to national legislation and the main laws that have governed them since 1985 are:

The government of the municipalities is in charge of a Municipal Council while the municipal code - ordinary law that contains provisions that apply to all municipalities - establishes that "the municipal council is the highest collegiate body of deliberation and decision." decision of municipal affairs [...] and has its headquarters in the constituency of the municipal seat"; Article 33 of the aforementioned code establishes that "[it] corresponds exclusively to the municipal council to exercise the government of the municipality."

The municipal council is made up of the mayor, trustees and councilors, elected directly by universal and secret suffrage for a period of four years, and may be re-elected.

There are also Auxiliary Mayor's Offices, Community Development Committees (COCODE), the Municipal Development Committee (COMUDE), cultural associations and work commissions. The auxiliary mayors are elected by the communities according to their principles and traditions, and meet with the municipal mayor on the first Sunday of each month, while the Community Development Committees and the Municipal Development Committee organize and facilitate the participation of the communities. communities prioritizing needs and problems.

History

After the triumph of the Liberal Revolution of 1871, when the self-appointed generals Justo Rufino Barrios and Miguel García Granados took charge of the political power of the country after overthrowing the conservative president Vicente Cerna y Cerna, the ex-military liberals and the other inhabitants They demanded the lowlands of Santa Eulalia. The request was approved and the claimed territories were disintegrated from Santa Eulalia to form Santa Cruz Barillas on October 17, 1888, already during the government of General Manuel Lisandro Barillas.

The town founding decree says:

In this decree it is not mentioned that there is a river in the middle, so the doubt arises that the limit of the urban area extends beyond the margin of the left side of the Kambalam River.^{[ citation required]}

Boundary Commission with Mexico

The limits of the municipality of Nentón and the rest of the border with the municipalities in Mexico were the product of arduous work that took several decades. It all began when, by virtue of the agreement celebrated in the capital of Mexico on December 7, 1877 by the representatives of both countries, two commissions of engineers were appointed, one for each nation to recognize the border and draw up a plan that would serve to the negotiations between the two countries; Although only a map was made of the border between the slopes of the Tacaná volcano and the Pacific Ocean, the meeting of President Justo Rufino Barrios and Matías Romero, Mexican representative, was held in New York on August 12, 1882, in which The bases were laid for an agreement on limits, in which it was stated that Guatemala dispensed with the rights that it had over Chiapas and Soconusco and the definitive limits were set. In November 1883, the drawing of the border began and to the survey of the topographical plan of its surroundings, with the head of the Guatemalan commission being the astronomer Miles Rock, and his collaborators Edwin Rockstroh, Felipe Rodríguez, Manuel Barrera and Claudio Urrutia. In the first year of work, only the Ixbul hill was reached, and in the following year they sought to reach the Usumacinta River or the Chixoy River, but it was extremely difficult because there were no roads in the area.

In his report to the Government of the Republic of Guatemala in 1900, engineer Claudio Urrutia indicated that: «[...] the treaty was fatal for Guatemala. In everything that the question of limits was related to during that time, there is something hidden that no one has been able to discover, and that forced the people who took part in it for Guatemala to proceed festively or as if forced by a powerful pressure, they tried issues with other people's ideas or in an unconscious manner. And then he continues: «Guatemala lost on the one hand nearly 15,000 km and gained on the other, something like 5,140 km. Result: A loss of 10,300 km. Guatemala lost fourteen towns, nineteen villages and fifty-four rancherías, with more than 15,000 Guatemalans, while Mexico lost one town and twenty-eight rancherías with 2,500 inhabitants: judge the equity in the compensations.

Territorial restructuring of Jorge Ubico's government

By government agreement of June 19, 1900, it was agreed to dismember a territory of Barillas to erect a new municipality; However, this new municipality was reincorporated into Barillas by the government agreement of December 11, 1935 of the government of General Jorge Ubico, who dissolved numerous municipalities and added them as villages to larger municipalities in an effort to simplify the administration of the Republic.

Northern Transversal Strip

Santa Cruz Barillas

Location of Santa Cruz Barillas in the Northern Transversal Strip

After the counterrevolution of 1954, the Guatemalan government created the Economic Planning Council (CNPE) and began to use free market strategies, advised by the World Bank and the International Cooperation Administration (ICA) of the United States government.. The CNPE and the ICA created the General Directorate of Agrarian Affairs (DGAA) which was in charge of dismantling and annulling the effects of Decree 900 of Agrarian Reform of the government of Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán. The DGAA was in charge of the geographical area that It bordered the departmental limit of Petén and the borders of Belize, Honduras and Mexico, and which over time would be called the Northern Transversal Strip (FTN).

In 1962, the DGAA became the National Institute of Agrarian Transformation (INTA), by decree 1551 that created the Agrarian Transformation law. In 1964, INTA defined the geography of the FTN as the northern part of the departments of Huehuetenango, Quiché, Alta Verapaz and Izabal and that same year priests of the Maryknoll order and the Order of the Sacred Heart began the first colonization process, together with INTA, taking residents of Huehuetenango to the Ixcán sector in Quiché.

At that time the Ixcán sector was made up of lands from the municipalities of Barillas, Huehuetenango and Chajul and Uspantán in Quiché. The descendants of the beneficiaries of the government of Justo Rufino Barrios also settled in the place, forming the villages Valle Candelaria and Santa María Candelaria, between the Ixcán and Xalbal rivers.

The INTA continued colonizing; and in 1970 the government of General Carlos Arana Osorio declared the area as an agrarian development zone by decree No. 60-70, which officially created the Northern Transversal Strip (FTN); The municipalities included in the FTN were: Santa Ana Huista, San Antonio Huista, Nentón, Jacaltenango, San Mateo Ixcatán, and Santa Cruz Barillas in Huehuetenango; Chajul and San Miguel Uspantán in Quiché; Cobán, Chisec, San Pedro Carchá, Lanquín, Senahú, Cahabón and Chahal, in Alta Verapaz and the entire department of Izabal.»

In 1976, when President Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García came to visit the Mayalán cooperative in the Ixcán sector, Quiché, which had been formed just ten 12 years earlier, he said: "Mayalán is sitting at the top of gold.", suggesting that the Northern Transversal Strip would no longer be dedicated to agriculture or the cooperative movement, but would be used for strategic objectives of exploitation of natural resources, especially oil and minerals. By then, soldiers, businessmen and politicians began to obtain land in the FTN region.

Economy

Agriculture

The main economic activities are agricultural; and among these the most important crops are: corn, brown beans, cardamom, vegetables and fruits. Corn is grown almost throughout the municipality and two or three plantings are carried out a year. Since traditional production techniques are preserved, the yield per hectare is approximately twenty-six quintals; Associated with the cultivation of corn, beans are planted, and their yield per hectare is unknown. This production is basically dedicated to self-consumption, as well as fruits and vegetables.

An important crop for the municipality is coffee. According to reports from the National Coffee Association (ANACAFE), eighty-nine population centers in the municipality are coffee producers with a production of 87,331 quintals of parchment coffee per year. The cultivated area of coffee is 4,817 hectares. On the other hand, cardamom cultivation reported a production of 25,163 quintals in 1995, with an increase of 52% for 1996.

Regarding the use of technological practices in the agricultural production process, 50% of population centers use fertilizers, 10% use improved seeds, and 9% control pests.^{[citation required]}

Crafts

This municipality stands out for its wood crafts, such as crucifixes, carved furniture and also fabric, such as typical cuts and blouses, as well as the artisanal production of food products; However, artisanal production does not seem to be important in the area since textiles are produced almost exclusively for domestic use.

Carpentry is carried out by hand in seven locations in the municipality.

Tourism

There are different places of tourist interest to which people from Barillas and visitors travel, these are:

• Pozas del Río Yolhuitz
• Archaeological site Barillas
• Archaeological Ruins The Quetzal
• Laguna Maxbal
• Enboque de Rio Spirit y de Rio San Ramón

The main tourist sites are:

On the other hand, the municipality has forty soccer fields in the same number of towns (38%) along with twenty-one towns that have basketball courts. Additionally, in the town there are 15 spas for people's recreation.

Customs and traditions

Patronal Festival

The Patron Saint Festival of the municipality of Barillas is celebrated from April 29 to May 3, the latter being the day of the Holy Cross.

One of the main attractions of these Mayan festivals are their traditional Evenings, organized by the different educational centers and the Municipality of the municipality. Not leaving behind the Horse Racing that takes place on the landing strip and El Jaripeo that takes place in different places in Zone 1.

Also, on May 3 at night, the burning of Toritos (they are costumes, in the shape of a bull, with which people dress up, and they carry pyrotechnic fires) is celebrated in front of the Catholic church.

Services

Education

Currently four nursery schools operate in the urban area; Regarding Basic Education, the following schools operate:

• Institute by cooperative "Kaibil Balam"
• Instituto Privado Carlos Sagastume Pérez
• Christian College Presence
• National Institute of Basic Education (INEB)
• Berea
• Santa Marta Villa Señor.
• Colegio Parroquial Conjunto "Santa Cruz"

There are also the Distance and Accelerated Education schools; among them: the Guatemalan Institute of Radio Education (IGER), the Ibero-American Institute of Advanced Studies and Hebron School.^{[citation required]}

Transportation

• Terrestrial: in charge of extra urban buses, with direct routes from Barillas to the city of Huehuetenango. There is also an important flotilla of mototaxis that are colloquially known as "Tuc-tuc".
• Aircraft: by small planes. This service is private and relatively expensive, and is mainly used to bring patients to Guatemala City or other places.^{[chuckles]required]}

Electrical Energy

The municipality's electrical energy is provided by the company Energuate, a subsidiary of the English financial company Actis. Service had been very poor until the 2008 energization of the Barillas Substation.^{[citation needed]}

The company Hidro Santa Cruz, S.A., a subsidiary of the Spanish company Ecoener, sought to build a 5 MW hydroelectric plant; However, due to opposition from the population, in December 2016 Ecoener completely renounced its rights to build the project.

Housing

In the municipality, 66% are of the traditional ranch type, made of wood or adobe, with thatched or tile roofs, with a dirt floor and with little or no internal division, the remaining 34% of the total populations are of modern type made of brick or block, made of sheet, with mosaic floor and with their respective internal divisions, also of the total number of homes, 94% own their home and the other 6% receive them in usufruct or rent them.

Poem to Santa Cruz Barillas

My beautiful Barillas

My beautiful and affable Barillas

Land of my beautiful memories,

Flowering and elegant place

to your soil always return longing

There is no place under the blue sky,

elegant place like my beloved town,

Santa Cruz Yalmox in the past was called

And in the present Barillas is your laureate name

Although I wander around the whole world

walking through radiant and dazzling streets

anywhere I long for my beautiful town, my prodigious town

where the glow of darkness slides peacefully

and where the sun's rays shine fleetingly

This is my beautiful Barillas, beautiful Villa without equal

where the dawn of heaven descends peacefully

where the minutes and seconds pass

ephemerally and pleasantly

in that beautiful place I always long to be

where is my beautiful home

It is your beautiful hard-working people, your greatest attraction

cheerful, pleasant and cordial, a natural charm,

your beautiful and attractive climate is without a doubt sensational

your beautiful and green mountains

crossed by your Cambalam river

they represent the spectacular nature of your flora and fauna

That beautiful place where the little birds in its surroundings

they delight us with their singing

and in the morning light they make us rise,

in that beautiful place with its thousands of charms

peaceful harmony is found

and that beautiful place is where I always long to be

Barillas must always be called

_{(Extracted from the book Santa Cruz Barillas "Tierra de Progreso, II Edition", By the Author Obdín Castillo Valiente)}