Place:Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Tuxtla Gutiérrez is the capital and the largest city of the Mexican southeastern state of Chiapas. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name, the most developed and populated in the state. A busy government, commercial and services-oriented city, Tuxtla (as it is commonly known) had one of the fastest-growing rates in Mexico in the last 40 years. Unlike many other areas in Chiapas, it is not a major tourist attraction, but a transportation hub for tourists coming into the state, with a large airport and a bus terminal.

History

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The Zoques made the first pre-Hispanic settlement at the site. They named the valley area name Coyatoc, which means 'land or house of rabbits'. The Aztecs intruded into the area between 1486 and 1505 and named it Tuchtlan, which means the same thing in their language.^[1]

After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and the subjugation of the local Chiapan people in 1528, the Dominicans constructed a monastery in nearby Tecpatán.^[2] There is no official founding date for Tuxtla, but it is known that the Dominican monks gathered dispersed Zoques into communities organized around churches in the 16th Century. A church dedicated to San Marcos (Saint Mark) was founded by the Dominicans for one of these communities in 1560.^[1][3]

The existence of the town of San Marcos Tuxtla was first recorded in 1748, and by 1768 it became the seat of a mayoralty in Chiapas.^[4]

The village was officially recognized as a villa by King of Spain in 1813 with a population of about 5,000, three-quarters of which were Zoques.^[3] In 1821, the authorities of the villa proclaimed independence from both Spain and the regional colonial government of Guatemala, along with other areas in what would become Chiapas. However, this declaration was not accepted by either Guatemala or Mexico. Tuxtla, along with the state of Chiapas, became part of Mexico by popular voting on .

Tuxtla was officially renamed as Tuxtla Gutiérrez on to honor , a former governor of Chiapas that promoted the state annexation to Mexico. The municipality was first incorporated as a on . It became the capital of Chiapas on .

The first library in the state was founded here in 1910.^[1]

During the Mexican Revolution, a battalion called "The Sons of Tuxtla" was formed in 1911, with Captain Julio Miramontes assassinated in 1912. Troops supporting Venustiano Carranza took over in 1914, led by Agustín Castro. Chiapas was reorganized into the municipality system in 1915, Tuxtla Gutiérrez becoming the head of one of these and Noé Vázquez the first municipal president. The city remained the state capital. The reaction against Carranza's policies was headed by the Mapaches, a group of landholders in the state who objected to the loss of their privileges and the redistribution of their lands. They burned the state government building, destroying its archives in 1915. General Salvador Alvarado and 2500 troops fought the Mapaches commanded by General Tiburcio Fernández Ruiz.^[1][3] Catholic churches were closed and images of saints were burned in the city in 1934.^[1]

In 1941, the municipal government moved from the old building on El Triunfo Street in the Santo Domingo neighborhood to the corner of Avenida Central and Calle 2ª Poniente on lands that belonged to the city's first municipal president. Here a new municipal palace was built in Neoclassical style. However, the municipal palace was moved again to its current location in 1982, and the Neoclassical building was given to the .^[3]

The Diocese of Tuxtla was created in 1965, which elevated the parish of San Marcos (Saint Mark) to a cathedral. It was subsequently elevated to an archdiocese in 2010.^[1] The city experienced high rates of population growth from the 1970s, resulting in the annexation of the municipality of Terán in 1973. The first Feria de Chiapas was held in 1980, and the Pope John Paul II visited the city in 1990.^[1]

During the 1990s, some areas of the state of Chiapas were affected by the EZLN or Zapatista uprising. While most of this group's activity was in rural areas of the state, Tuxtla was also affected by it. As many as 10,000 Zapatista sympathizers protested in the city in 1998 to push federal officials to honor the 1994 San Andrés Accords and to push for new gubernatorial elections and other demands. The political instability pushed many indigenous into the municipality from more rural areas in the latter half of the decade.^[5] In 1998, PRD politician, EZLN activist and leader of the Ruiz Gamboa was assassinated in the city. It is thought the act was in response to Ruiz Gamboa's work in land redistribution in the state's La Frailesca region.

In the 1990s, Mexicana airlines stopped service to Tuxtla, and a major crash killing nineteen persons led to protests and the reinstatement of service to the city by Mexicana in 2000. In 2011, the government of Guatemala announced that it would open a consulate in the city to support its nationals who cross through Mexican territory or reside here. The government noted the problems that many Guatemalans, especially those who enter Mexico illegally, have had in the country. A tractor trailer with 219 illegal immigrants was stopped in the municipality in early 2011. Most were Guatemalan and almost all from Central America but there were also people from Sri Lanka and Nepal. The migrants were detected by using portable X-ray on the passing truck.

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