Comitancillo

File:Pedrocortesylarraz.jpg portrait; he arrived to Tejutla in 1770.]]

In 1690, Tejutla had a large area and included the modern municipalities of Comitancillo, Ixchiguán, Concepción Tutuapa, Sipacapa, Sibinal, Tajumulco, Tacaná and part of what is now San Miguel Ixtahuacán. According to the historical writings from Recordación Florida of Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán, Tejutla belonged to Quetzaltenango Department and it was a "prosperous land with rich weathers and comfortable forest with enough water".{{sfn|Fuentes y Guzmán|1932|p=}}

Tejutla was an important commercial and religious center; in August 1767, Joseph Domingo Hidalgo described Santiago Tejutla as "El Curato" -i.e., the focal center of commerce of all the towns that were around it− in the Gaceta de Guatemala, the official newspaper of the times. Then, in the last quarter of the 18th century, bishop Dr. Pedro Cortés y Larraz, who arrived from Cuilco in 1770 as part of the inspection he was doing of the Guatemalan dioceses, called Tejutla "Santiago en la Cima del Monte" (English: Santiago at the top of the hill" and reported that there were "sixty four families who lived very well" in the area.{{sfn|Cortés y Larraz|1770|p=}}

The Central American United Provinces constitution from 11 October 1821, showed Tejutla under modern San Marcos jurisdiction for the very first time.

In 1870 Tejutla reached "Villa" category and, due to its development, its authorities requested to the House of Representatives of Guatemala to be named a Department capital. The department was going to have the municipalities mentioned above, along with the modern municipalities of Cuilco, Santa Bárbara and San Gaspar, Huehuetenango, from the modern [[Huehuetenango Department. Besides, in those days, Motocintla, Cacahuatán and Tapachula—which would go definitively to Mexico in 1892 due to the Herrera-Mariscal treaty{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5nFVAAAAMAAJ|title=Memoria sobre la cuestión de límites entre Guatemala y México|author=Comisión Guatemalteca de Límites con México|publisher=Tipografía Nacional|location=Guatemala|year=1900|pages=325|language=es}}{{cite journal|year=1896|title=Nuestras fronteras|journal=La Ilustración Guatemalteca|url=https://archive.org/stream/ilustracionguate00guat#page/470/mode/2up|location=Guatemala|volume=I|issue=13|publisher=Síguere, Guirola y Cía|language=es}}— were under the jurisdiction of the Mercedarian convent located in Tejutla. Furthermore, Tejutla even had House representatives of its own in those days.

But power shifted when the conservatives led by Field Marshal Vicente Cerna were defeated by the liberal forces of generals Miguel Garcia Granados and Justo Rufino Barrios −who was a San Lorenzo native; once the liberals were in power, the expelled the regular clergy from Guatemala leaving Tejutla without their main administrative and leadership support, the Mercedarians. In fact, Barrios government confiscated monasteries, large extensions of farm land, sugar mills and Indian doctrines from the Mercedarians and other regular orders and then distributed it to his liberal friends and comrades, who became large landowners in the area.{{cite journal|last=Castellanos Cambranes|first=Julio|journal=500 años de lucha por la tierra. Estudios sobre propiedad rual y reforma agraria en Guatemala|title=5. Tendencias del desarrollo agrario en el siglo XIX y surgimiento de la propiedad capitalista de la tierra en Guatemala|volume=1|location=Guatemala|publisher=FLACSO|year=1992|url=http://www.flacsoandes.edu.ec/libros/digital/53099.pdf|language=es}}

{{Further|Tapachula International Airport|La Aurora International Airport}}

Comitancillo municipal capital can be reached in four ways:

1. Through the road that goes by San Lorenzo.
2. By Serchil and Tuilelén villages.
3. From Tejutla.
4. From San Luis Tuimuj village.{{sfn|Duarte Godínez|2010|p=4}}

Comitancillo has a temperate climate (Köppen: Cwb).

{{Weather box

| width = auto

| location = Comitancillo

| metric first = yes

| single line = yes

| Jan mean C = 14.2

| Feb mean C = 14.9

| Mar mean C = 15.6

| Apr mean C = 16.2

| May mean C = 16.4

| Jun mean C = 16.2

| Jul mean C = 16.1

| Aug mean C = 16.1

| Sep mean C = 16.0

| Oct mean C = 15.9

| Nov mean C = 15.2

| Dec mean C = 14.2

| year mean C =

| Jan high C = 19.7

| Feb high C = 20.7

| Mar high C = 21.0

| Apr high C = 21.4

| May high C = 21.1

| Jun high C = 20.6

| Jul high C = 20.6

| Aug high C = 20.7

| Sep high C = 20.5

| Oct high C = 20.3

| Nov high C = 19.9

| Dec high C = 19.6

| year high C =

| Jan low C = 9.8

| Feb low C = 10.1

| Mar low C = 10.8

| Apr low C = 11.8

| May low C = 12.9

| Jun low C = 12.9

| Jul low C = 12.4

| Aug low C = 12.6

| Sep low C = 12.9

| Oct low C = 12.7

| Nov low C = 11.4

| Dec low C = 10.2

| year low C =

| Jan precipitation mm = 16.6

| Feb precipitation mm = 18.9

| Mar precipitation mm = 39.3

| Apr precipitation mm = 67

| May precipitation mm = 184.4

| Jun precipitation mm = 236.2

| Jul precipitation mm = 194.7

| Aug precipitation mm = 244.7

| Sep precipitation mm = 266.7

| Oct precipitation mm = 192.6

| Nov precipitation mm = 55

| Dec precipitation mm = 21.3

| year precipitation mm =

| source 1 = Weather.Directory

{{cite web|url=https://weather.directory/gt/comitancillo

|title= Comitancillo Weather & Climate Guide

|access-date= 30 Jan 2025

|website= Weather.Directory}}

}}

Comitancillo is almost completely surrounded by San Marcos Department municipalities, except on the East side, where it borders Cabricán, a Quetzaltenango Department municipality.{{harvnb|Duarte Godínez|2010|p=2}}

{{Geographic location

|Center=Comitancillo

|North=San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipacapa

|West=Tejutla and San Marcos

|South=San Lorenzo and San Marcos

|East=Cabricán, Quetzaltenango Department municipality
Río Blanco, San Marcos Department municipality{{cite web|author=SEGEPLAN|title=Municipios del departamento de San Marcos|url=http://www.segeplan.gob.gt/2.0/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=category&id=274:san-jose-ojetenam|website=Secretaría General de Planificación|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710201808/http://www.segeplan.gob.gt/2.0/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=category&id=274%3Asan-jose-ojetenam|archive-date=10 July 2015|url-status=dead}}

}}

• {{Portal-inline|Guatemala}}
• {{Portal-inline|Geography}}
• La Aurora International Airport
• Tapachula International Airport

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book|last=Cortés y Larraz|first=Pedro|author-link=Pedro Cortés y Larraz|title=Descripción Geográfico-Moral de la Diócesis de Goathemala|year=1770|location=Guatemala|publisher=Diócesis de Guatemala|language=es}}
• {{cite book|last=Duarte Godínez|first=Boris Gustavo |title=Municipio de Comitancillo: Diagnóstico administrativo municipal |series=Ejercicio Profesional Supervisado |year=2010 |publisher=Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala|location=Guatemala|url=http://biblioteca.usac.edu.gt/EPS/03/03_0749_v13.pdf|language=es}}
• {{cite book|last=Fuentes y Guzmán|first=Francisco Antonio de|author-link=Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán|year=1932|orig-date=1690|title=Recordación Florida. Discurso historial y demostración natural, material, militar y política del Reyno de Guatemala|volume=I-III|series=Biblioteca Goathemala de la Sociedad de Geografía e Historia Volumen VI|publisher=Tipografía Nacional|location=Guatemala|language=es}}

{{Refend}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070720090127/http://www.visitguatemala.com/nuevo/destinos_municipio.asp?id=215 Some information] (in Spanish)

{{San Marcos Department}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Coord|15.0833|N|91.7167|W|source:kolossus-itwiki|display=title}}

Category:Municipalities of the San Marcos Department