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San Marcos is a city and municipality in
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 the capital of the department of San Marcos. The municipality has a population of 47,063 (2018 census).


History


1897 Quetzaltenango Revolt

In September 1897, after the failure of both the interoceanic railroad and the Central American Expo and the deep economic crisis that Guatemala was facing after the plummeting international prices of both coffee and silver, the people of Quetzaltenango raised in arms against the decision of president
José María Reina Barrios José María Reyna Barrios (December 24, 1854 – February 8, 1898) was President of Guatemala from March 15, 1892 until his assassination on February 8, 1898. He was a moderate of Guatemala's Liberal Party, who worked to solidify the less ...
to extend his presidential term until 1902. A group of rebels, among them a former Secretary of Reina Barrios's cabinet - Próspero Morales-, began to combat on 7 September 1897 attacking San Marcos; after several battles and some gains in Ocos, Coatepeque and Colomba the rebels were definitely defeated on 4 October 1897. As a result, on 23 October 1897, San Pedro Sacatepéquez became the capital of
San Marcos Department San Marcos is a department in southwestern Guatemala, on the Pacific Ocean and along the western Guatemala-Mexico border. The department's capital is the city of San Marcos. History Colonial period The Spanish conquest of Guatemalan Highl ...
.


20th century

In 1903 the eruption of the Santa María volcano in the neighboring department of
Quetzaltenango Quetzaltenango (, also known by its Maya name Xelajú or Xela ) is a municipality and namesake department in western Guatemala. The city is located in a mountain valley at an elevation of above sea level at its lowest part. It may reach above ...
was responsible for the destruction of the twin towns of San Marcos and San Pedro Sacatepéquez. The towns were rebuilt and on 16 December 1935, during the presidency of general
Jorge Ubico Jorge Ubico Castañeda (10 November 1878 – 14 June 1946), nicknamed Number Five or also Central America's Napoleon, was a Guatemalan military officer, politician, and dictator who served as the president of Guatemala from 1931 to 1944. A ge ...
, it was annexed to San Pedro Sacatepéquez forming the municipality of La Unión San Marcos. However, this system did not work and La Unión San Marcos was broken apart on 20 July 1945, but San Pedro Sacatepéquez lost the capital of
San Marcos Department San Marcos is a department in southwestern Guatemala, on the Pacific Ocean and along the western Guatemala-Mexico border. The department's capital is the city of San Marcos. History Colonial period The Spanish conquest of Guatemalan Highl ...
to the municipality of San Marcos.


21st century

Towards the end of the 20th century San Marcos became a hot spot for drug trafficking in Central America, and one of the top lords was Juan Chamalé Ortiz, who was heavily involved in cocaine trafficking, and was accused by US authorities of helping to move over 40 tons of
cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
through
Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...
en route to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. Ortiz worked with local fishermen to smuggle cocaine in small fishing boats and may have also commissioned semi-submersibles to transport the drug. Ortiz also controlled a major opium poppy producing area, the
San Marcos Department San Marcos is a department in southwestern Guatemala, on the Pacific Ocean and along the western Guatemala-Mexico border. The department's capital is the city of San Marcos. History Colonial period The Spanish conquest of Guatemalan Highl ...
, where he was a popular local figure. He owned at least ten estates in his area of operations, centered in San Marcos city, and provided numerous jobs, in addition to cultivating local support by throwing parties and sponsoring beauty contests. San Marcos is one of the most important regions in Guatemala given its proximity to the highlands,
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 ...
and to the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
coast, where most of the drugs coming from
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
land. Ortiz exerted influence over local politicians and police in the region, and relied on a powerful local support network to conduct his business. He is thought to have worked out a deal that made him the
Sinaloa Cartel The Sinaloa Cartel (, , after the native Sinaloa region), also known as the ''CDS'', the ''Guzmán-Loera Organization'', the ''Federation'', the ''Sinaloa Cartel'', or the Pacific Cartel, is a large, drug trafficking transnational organized cri ...
's top transporter, helping the Mexican group move drugs that arrived via Pacific routes. Ortiz Chamalé was captured in 2011 in
Quetzaltenango Quetzaltenango (, also known by its Maya name Xelajú or Xela ) is a municipality and namesake department in western Guatemala. The city is located in a mountain valley at an elevation of above sea level at its lowest part. It may reach above ...
and extradited to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in 2014 where he was sentenced to 262 months in jail; when Ortiz was arrested in 2011, locals protested to demand his release.


Sports

The city is home of the
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises * ...
Deportivo Marquense Club Deportivo Marquense, or simply Marquense, is a Guatemalan professional football club based in San Marcos, Department of San Marcos. They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football following promotion from qualifying ...
who play in Guatemala's
Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
in the
Estadio Marquesa de la Ensenada Estadio Marquesa de la Ensenada is a football stadium in San Marcos, Guatemala. It is home to Liga Nacional club Marquense and has an 11,000-seat capacity. History Opened on 22 April 1963, it was named after the nobiliary title of Maria Barrios ...
.Stadiums in Guatemala
- World Stadiums


Gallery

Image:SanMarcos1940 01.jpg, 1940s Image:SanMarcos1940 03.jpg, 1940s Image:SanMarcos1940 04.jpg, 1940s Image:SanMarcos1940 05.jpg, President general
Jorge Ubico Jorge Ubico Castañeda (10 November 1878 – 14 June 1946), nicknamed Number Five or also Central America's Napoleon, was a Guatemalan military officer, politician, and dictator who served as the president of Guatemala from 1931 to 1944. A ge ...
visit in 1940. Image:Sanmarco (1).jpg, Mayan Palace Image:Sanmarcoftn.jpg Image:Sanmarcos2.jpg


Climate

San Marcos has a
subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring c ...
(climate type ''Cwb''), according to the
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
. The weather is pleasant to warm, though with cool to cold mornings, throughout the year. There are two seasons: the
dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...
from November to April and the
wet season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...
from May to October, which produces almost all the annual rainfall of about .


Geographic location

San Marcos is completely surrounded by municipalities of
San Marcos Department San Marcos is a department in southwestern Guatemala, on the Pacific Ocean and along the western Guatemala-Mexico border. The department's capital is the city of San Marcos. History Colonial period The Spanish conquest of Guatemalan Highl ...
:


See also

* * *
Justo Rufino Barrios Justo Rufino Barrios Auyón (19 July 1835 – 2 April 1885) was a Guatemalan politician and military general who served as President of Guatemala from 1873 to his death in 1885. He was known for his liberal reforms and his attempts to reun ...
*
San Marcos Department San Marcos is a department in southwestern Guatemala, on the Pacific Ocean and along the western Guatemala-Mexico border. The department's capital is the city of San Marcos. History Colonial period The Spanish conquest of Guatemalan Highl ...


Notes and references


Notes


References


External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of the San Marcos Department