Ciudad Cuauhtémoc is a town in the extreme southern
Mexican state
A Mexican State (), officially the Free and Sovereign State (), is a constituent federative entity of Mexico according to the Constitution of Mexico. Currently there are 31 states, each with its own constitution, government, state governor, a ...
of
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 ...
. It is part of the municipality of
Frontera Comalapa
Frontera Comalapa is a town and municipality in the Mexican state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. It covers an area of 717.90 km².
As of 2010, the municipality had a total population of 67,012, up from 52,168 as of 2005.
As of 2010, the cit ...
and is situated on the
Guatemala-Mexico border opposite the city of
La Mesilla,
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 ...
,
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
. As of 2010, Ciudad Cuauhtémoc had a population of 2,325.
The city's name was changed from El Ocotal to Ciudad Cuauhtémoc on November 18, 1943, and serves as Mexico's southern terminus of the
Pan-American Highway
The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...
.
The city is noted for being the final destination of
Mexico's first
Carrera Panamericana
The Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sedan (stock and touring and sports car) rally racing event on open roads in Mexico similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy. Running for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, i ...
border-to-border road race in 1950. Starting in
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez ( , ; "Juárez City"), commonly referred to as just Juárez (Lipan language, Lipan: ''Tsé Táhú'ayá''), is the most populous city in the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. It was k ...
(situated across the border from
El Paso
El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
,
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
) in the northern Mexican state of
Chihuahua, the race lasted six days, spanned 2,096 miles (3,373 kilometers), and finished its course in Ciudad Cuauhtémoc on the southern Mexican border with Guatemala. The Carrera Panamericana ran for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954 and was a celebration of Mexico's completion of its portion of the
Pan-American Highway
The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...
.
[50th Anniversary of the Carrera Panamericana http://www.classics.com/panam50.html]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, Chiapas
Populated places in Chiapas
Guatemala–Mexico border crossings