() is a town, with a population of 13,400 (2018 census), and a

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

, with a population of 23,017 (2018 census),Citypopulation.de
Population of departments and municipalities in Guatemala in the

Escuintla department Escuintla () is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala. The capital of the department is the city of Escuintla. Escuintla covers an area of 4,384 km2 and is situated in the coastal lowland region, directly south of Guatemala City, and bord ...

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 ...

. It is most notable for the

Olmec The Olmecs () or Olmec were an early known major Mesoamerican civilization, flourishing in the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco from roughly 1200 to 400 Before the Common Era, BCE during Mesoamerica's Mesoamerican chronolog ...

-influenced carved stone heads from the

Monte Alto culture Monte Alto is an archaeological site on the Pacific Coast in what is now Guatemala. History Located 20 km southeast from Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa in Escuintla, Monte Alto was occupied as early as 1800 BC, but has a fairly light presen ...

now on display around the town square. The town possesses a small archaeological museum, the .

History

It is said that the first settlers to make home in what is now were the

Pipil people The Pipil are an Indigenous group of Mesoamerican people inhabiting the western and central areas of present-day El Salvador and Nicaragua. They are a subgroup of the larger Nahua ethnic group. They speak the Nawat language, which is a closel ...

, who seem to have passed through Guatemala on their way to

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

, where they currently reside. Evidence of what occurred in can be found in archeological sites throughout the municipality. Barrigones of La Democracia Escuintla Guatemala

Barrigones of La Democracia Escuintla Guatemala

Infrastructure

The sugar-mill that takes up an enormous portion of the economy in is . In November 2012, the sugar mill installed a 56 Megawatts electrical plant which was connected to the electrical mainframe of the company, which already had 125 Megawatts, in addition to the electrical distribution of the country. The installation cost a total of 7 million dollars.

Municipal Government

On the 13 of September 2013, the municipality accused Ex-mayor Ramó Soto García of cheating the Guatemalan Institute of Social Security (IGSS) of 237,000 by falsely declaring that a relative needed medical attention as a commune worker. On the 28th of June 2015, Garcia, who at the time was once again a candidate for mayor, was captured by the Public Ministry of Guatemala. The capture was due to the suspicion that he had illicitly laundered around twelve million in 2006. For this reason, the Guatemala Supreme Electoral Tribunal annulled his inscription as candidate for municipal mayor.

Tourism

is recognized for its archeological tourist sites. It is visited by many of the people of Guatemala and visitors to the country. It is also the center of study for many historians and scientists.

Notes

Municipalities of the Escuintla Department {{Guatemala-geo-stub