Last modified: 2021-06-12 by rob raeside
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Sache, 15 May 2021See also:
The municipality of El Chal (13,819 inhabitants in 2018, 2,640 in the town of
El Chal; 95,763 ha) is located 430 km of Guatemala City and 50 km south-east of
Flores.
El Chal is named for a Maya Itzá word meaning "clearwater
place".
Until 1938, El Chal was a clearing in the palm forest used as a safe
resting place for travelers heading to Flores. In July 1938, the place was
settled by Ernesto Montejo, a Mexican farmer living in Santo Toribio, and his
wife Felicita Cuoch. Two years later, they left El Chal, which remained
uninhabited until 1948, when settled by Sebastián Cuz, his wife Gertrudis Pop
and their tow sons Sebastián and Andrés. They had two employees, Gregorio
Torres, from Honduras, and Rodrigo Hernández, from Gualán; El Chal was
therefore inhabited by three families.
In 1955, the opening of a small road
allowed another 20 families to settle at El Chal. A first mass was celebrated in
March 1962 by a missionary. Much more colonists came in 1965 from all parts of
the country.
The formal organization of the community, initiated in 1967
on a 3 km2 x 2 km2 area, was stopped by the emergence of armed groups. In 1968,
the First Lady, wife of President Méndez, visited the village and offered a
statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was carried in a procession from El
Quetzal to the El Chal chapel.
A military commission was established in the
village in 1969, subsequently transformed into a permanent; accused to support
the guerillas, the villagers were submitted to strong repression, which caused
several families to move to other, safer places.
The organization of an
urbanization committee in 1979 caused the wrath of some farmers who refused to
offer plots to build houses; violence culminated with the murder of Mauricio Xol,
president of the committee. The urbanization project was inaugurated on 7 July
1981 by President of the Republic Romeo Lucas García.
The administrative
status of El Chal was upgraded from caserio (hamlet) to aldea (village) by
Government Agreement No. 524 issued on 25 October 2000. The municipality of El
Chal was established by Decree-Law No. 5 issued on 4 February 2014, separating
from Dolores, and inaugurated on 29 April 2014.
https://munielchalpeten.gob.gt/web/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/HISTORIA-DE-EL-CHAL-1.pdf
Historia de El Chal, Municipal website
The flag of EL Chal is
horizontally divided celestial blue-white-green, charged in the center with the
municipal coat of arms.
Photo
https://www.facebook.com/institutonacionaldebosques/photos/pcb.3303197119735093/3303167403071398/
Ivan Sache, 15 May 2021
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image by Fred Drews, 23 September 2018