Honduras de la Sierra is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the Mexican state of Chiapas, located approximately southeast of the state capital of

Tuxtla Gutiérrez 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 servic ...

. Gazetted in 2019, it is the newest municipality in Chiapas.

Geography

The municipality of Honduras de la Sierra is located in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas in the southern part of the state. It borders the municipalities of

Chicomuselo Chicomuselo is a municipality in the Mexican state of Chiapas, and also the name of the municipality's largest settlement and the seat of the municipal government. The municipality has an area of 1,043 km². As of 2010, the municipality h ...

to the north, Siltepec to the east,

Escuintla Escuintla () is an industrial city in Guatemala, its land extension is 4384 km², and it is nationally known for its sugar agribusiness. Its capital is a minicipality with the same name. Citizens celebrate from December 6 to 9 with a small fair ...

to the south, Capitán Luis Ángel Vidal to the west, and

Ángel Albino Corzo Ángel Albino Corzo is one of the 122 municipalities of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. It covers an area of 1748.81 km². Its municipal seat is the town of Jaltenango de la Paz. As of 2010, the municipality had a total population of 26,628, u ...

to the northwest. The municipality covers an area of more than . The Honduras River, a tributary of the

Grijalva River Grijalva River, formerly known as ''Tabasco River'', ( es, Río Grijalva, known locally also as Río Grande de Chiapas, Río Grande and Mezcalapa River) is a long river in southeastern Mexico."Grijalva." ''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Diction ...

, runs south to north through the municipality. Pine-oak forests cover much of the municipality, part of which lies in the Pico El Loro-Paxtal Ecological Conservation Area.

History

The community of Honduras de la Sierra was founded in 1905 and was originally part of the municipality of Siltepec. On 25 April 2018, the Congress of Chiapas approved the separation of Honduras de la Sierra and its surrounding communities from Siltepec to create a new municipality. The decree establishing the municipality was first gazetted on 2 May 2018. Siltepec brought a challenge to this decree on constitutional grounds, which was rejected by Mexico's

Supreme Court of Justice A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

on 3 July 2019. A second decree establishing the municipality was gazetted on 11 September 2019. Three employees of the ''

Instituto Nacional Electoral The Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) (English for ''National Electoral Institute'') (formerly Federal Electoral Institute (, IFE)) is an autonomous, public agency responsible for organizing federal elections in Mexico, that is, those relat ...

'' (INE) were detained for 24 hours on January 25-26, 2021, by residents of Ángel Díaz in protest against the establishment of the municipality.

Administration

Honduras de la Sierra will hold its first elections as an independent municipality in 2021. Until then, it is being administered by a transitional municipal council appointed by the Chiapas state legislature in March 2020, with Noé Pérez Morales as president.

Demographics

In the 2010 Mexican Census, the localities that now comprise the municipality of Honduras de la Sierra recorded a population of 10,989 inhabitants. There are 68 localities in the municipality, of which only the municipal seat, also named Honduras de la Sierra, is designated as urban. It recorded a population of 507 inhabitants in the 2010 Census.

Economy

The main economic activity in Honduras de la Sierra is coffee production. Other crops grown include corn, beans, bananas, oranges, avocados, peanuts, chayote, and pumpkin, and cattle and sheep are also raised.

References

{{Chiapas, state=collapsed Municipalities of Chiapas 2019 establishments in Mexico States and territories established in 2019