Santa Cruz del Rincón ( Me'phaa: Xkuaa, "flat place") is 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' ...

in the

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Guerrero Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 32 states that compose the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guerrero, 85 municipalities. The stat ...

. It is located about southeast of the state capital of

Chilpancingo Chilpancingo de los Bravo (commonly shortened to Chilpancingo; ; Nahuatl: Chilpantzinco ()) is the capital and second-largest city of the Mexican state of Guerrero. In 2010 it had a population of 187,251 people. The municipality has an area of ...

. Its creation from the municipality of

Malinaltepec Malinaltepec is a city and seat of the municipality of Malinaltepec, in the Mexican state of Guerrero.Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI from its former name in ) is ...

was approved in 2021 and went into force on 21 May 2022.

Geography

The municipality of Santa Cruz del Rincón is located at the headwaters of the Marquelia River in the transition zone between the Costa Chica and the

Sierra Madre del Sur The Sierra Madre del Sur is a mountain range in southern Mexico, extending from southern Michoacán east through Guerrero, to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in eastern Oaxaca. Geography The Sierra Madre del Sur joins with the Eje Volcánico Transv ...

of eastern Guerrero. It borders the municipalities of Malinaltepec to the north, Iliatenco to the northeast, and

San Luis Acatlán San Luis Acatlán is the seat of the municipality of San Luis Acatlán, located in the Mexican state of Guerrero. It is located in the Costa Chica region of the state, about 158 km from Acapulco. Most often called simply "Acatlán", the na ...

to the south and west. The highest point of Santa Cruz del Rincón is its tripoint with Malinaltepec and Iliatenco at Cerro Ardilla, above sea level. The municipality covers an area of . Since 2011, of the part of the municipality east of the main north–south highway has been protected as a Voluntary Conservation Area. Santa Cruz del Rincón has a

subhumid temperate climate The subhumid temperate climate also called monsoon temperate climate, is a temperate climate sub-type with monsoon influence, that is a climate with dry winter and wet summer. Although the terms ''subhumid temperate climate'' and ''monsoon tempera ...

with rain in the summer. Average temperatures range between .

History

Due to a lack of basic infrastructure and services, Santa Cruz del Rincón and its surrounding communities had been demanding the creation of an independent municipal government since 1964. On 31 August 2021, the Guerrero state congress approved the formation of the municipality of Santa Cruz del Rincón from nineteen localities previously belonging to Malinaltepec. The state constitutional amendment establishing the municipality was passed on 13 January 2022 and went into force on 21 May 2022.

Administration

Santa Cruz del Rincón will hold its first elections as an independent municipality in 2024. An interim administration was appointed in September 2023, led by

municipal president A ''presidente municipal'' ( English: "municipal president") is the chief of government of municipios in Mexico. This title was also used in the Philippines during the Spanish and American colonial periods; it is comparable to a mayor of the tow ...

Godofredo Avilés Mendoza. The municipal government of Santa Cruz del Rincón consists of a municipal president, a councillor (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: ''síndico''), and six trustees (''regidores''). The , a community self-defence group serving indigenous communities in eastern Guerrero, operates in the area.

Demographics

In the 2020 Mexican Census, the localities that now comprise the municipality of Santa Cruz del Rincón recorded a population of 6851 inhabitants. The municipal seat, also named Santa Cruz del Rincón or just El Rincón, recorded a population of 1677 inhabitants in the 2020 Census. Other localities in the municipality with over a thousand people are El Potrerillo and Tierra Colorada, which recorded populations of 1393 and 1020 inhabitants respectively in the 2020 Census. According to the 2010 Census, 70% of the population in Santa Cruz del Rincón spoke the Me'phaa or

Tlapanec language Tlapanec , or Mephaa, is an indigenous Mexican language spoken by more than 98,000 Tlapanec people in the state of Guerrero. Like other Oto-Manguean languages, it is tonal and has complex inflectional morphology. The ethnic group themselves ref ...

Economy and infrastructure

The economy of Santa Cruz del Rincón is based on agriculture: corn, coffee and hibiscus are the main crops. A paved highway runs north to south through the municipality, connecting it with

Tlapa de Comonfort Tlapa de Comonfort, often shortened to Tlapa and known as Tindai in Mixtec, is a city in the mountain region of the Mexican state of Guerrero. It also serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name. "Tlapa" is a ...

to the north and Marquelia to the south. Several educational institutions operate in Santa Cruz del Rincón, including a public library, a junior high school and a high school, a branch of the National Pedagogic University, and a branch of UNISUR ( Universidad Intercultural de los Pueblos del Sur), which offers informal education for indigenous youth.

References

{{Guerrero, state=collapsed Municipalities of Guerrero 2022 establishments in Mexico States and territories established in 2022