The Franja Transversal del Norte (English: Northern Transversal Strip) is a region in
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
delimited to the north by an imaginary line between Vértice de Santiago in
Huehuetenango and Modesto Méndez Port in
Izabal and in the south by
La Mesilla in Huehuetenango and
Izabal lake. It is composed, from west to east, of part of the Guatemalan departments of Huehuetenango,
Quiché,
Alta Verapaz
Alta Verapaz () is a Departments of Guatemala, department in the north central part of Guatemala. The capital and chief city of the department is Cobán. Verapaz is bordered to the north by Petén (department), El Petén, to the east by Izabal ...
and the entire department of Izabal. It extends roughly 15750 km
2.
During the
Guatemalan Civil War, most of the massacres took place there due to the oil, mineral and precious wood reserves in the region. In the 21st century, there are projects to work in the region and a modern highway was built in 2010.
Origins
Belgian colony
In 1840, Belgium began to act as an external source of support for Rafael Carrera's conservative movement, in an effort to exert influence in Central America. The ' (Belgian Colonization Company), commissioned by Belgian King
Leopold I, became the administrator of
Santo Tomas de Castilla
Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to:
People
* Santo (given name)
* Santo (surname)
* El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor
* Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwadwo ...
in
Izabal, replacing the failed British