Santo Domingo Kesté is a town in

Campeche Campeche, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche, is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, make up the Administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the sta ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

in the

Champotón Municipality Champotón Municipality is a municipality within the state of Campeche, including the city of Champotón and the surrounding area. In 2010 the municipality of Champotón had a population of 83,021 inhabitants. It has an areal extent of 6,088.28 ...

. In 2010, Santo Domingo Kesté had 3,763 people, and in 2020 Santo Domingo Kesté had a population of 4,461. Santo Domingo Kesté is home to

Telesecundaria "Telesecundaria+" is a system of distance education programs for secondary education, secondary and high school students created by the Federal government of the United Mexican States, government of Mexico and available in rural areas of Mexico, t ...

87. There is an Awakatek community in Santo Domingo Kesté, and they speak the

Qʼeqchiʼ language The Qʼeqchiʼ language, also spelled Kekchi, Kʼekchiʼ, or Kekchí, is one of the Mayan languages from the Quichean languages, Quichean branch, spoken within Qʼeqchiʼ people, Qʼeqchiʼ communities in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. Distributi ...

. Chihua pumpkins, peanuts, common beans, sesame seeds, sweet potatoes, maize, cassava, and hibuscus are grown in Santo Domingo Kesté, with chihua pumpkins being the most important crop economically.

History

This town was established by Guatemalan refugees escaping

the conflict ''The Conflict'' is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Ralph Ince and starring Lucille Lee Stewart, Huntley Gordon and Wilfred Lytell.Connelly p.51 Cast * Lucille Lee Stewart as Madeleine Turner * Jessie Miller as Jeanette Harcou ...

in their country during the 1980s. They journeyed through the Guatemalan rainforest and crossed into Mexico, eventually arriving in

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

. Later, the Mexican government relocated these refugees to various locations within Campeche. A group originating from

Huehuetenango Huehuetenango () is a city and municipality in the highlands of western Guatemala. It is also the capital of the department of Huehuetenango. The city is situated from Guatemala City, and is the last departmental capital on the Pan-American Hi ...

and Quiché in Guatemala chose to settle in a location they named Santo Domingo Kesté. In 2018, the

National Institute of Indigenous Peoples The National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (, INPI, Tzotzil language, Tzotzil: ''Instituto Ta Sjunul Jlumaltik Sventa Batsi Jnaklometik,'' Qʼeqchiʼ language, Q'eqchi': ''Molam Tk’anjelaq Chi Rixeb’ Laj Ralch’och’'', Ixil language, Ixil ...

held the first Meeting of Cultural Groups of Guatemalan Origin in Santo Domingo Kesté, in which four hundred people participated from nearby

ejidos An ''ejido'' (, from Latin ''exitum'') is an area of communal land used for Agriculture in Mexico, agriculture in which community members have usufruct rights, which in Mexico is not held by the Mexican state. People awarded ejidos in the moder ...

, as well as a delegation from Guatemala.

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Campeche