Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, Chiapas

Ciudad Cuauhtémoc (Formerly Known as El Ocotal)
—  City  —
Ciudad Cuauhtémoc
Coordinates: 15°40′01″N 92°00′15″W / 15.66694°N 92.00417°W / 15.66694; -92.00417Coordinates: 15°40′01″N 92°00′15″W / 15.66694°N 92.00417°W / 15.66694; -92.00417
Country	Mexico
State	Chiapas
Municipality	Frontera Comalapa
Founded	November 18, 1943
Elevation	720 m (2,362 ft)
Population (2005)
– Total	2,069
Postal code	30150
Area code(s)	963

Ciudad Cuauhtémoc is a city in the extreme southern Mexican state of Chiapas. It is part of the municipality of Frontera Comalapa and is situated on the Guatemala-Mexico border opposite the city of La Mesilla, Huehuetenango, Guatemala.

The city's name was changed from El Ocotal to Ciudad Cuauhtémoc on November 18, 1943, and serves as Mexico's southern terminus of the Pan-American Highway.^[1]

The city is noted for being the final destination of Mexico's first Carrera Panamericana border-to-border road race in 1950.^[2] Starting in Ciudad Juarez (situated across the border from El Paso, Texas) in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, the race lasted six days, spanned 2,096 miles (3,373 kilometers), and finished its course in Ciudad Cuauhtémoc on the southern Mexican border with Guatemala.^[3] The Carrera Panamericana ran for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954 and was a celebration of Mexico's completion of its portion of the Pan-American Highway.^[4]

References

1. ^ INAFED. "Frontera Comalapa". Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México. http://www.e-local.gob.mx/work/templates/enciclo/chiapas/municipios/07034a.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-02. 
2. ^ 50th Anniversary of the Carrera Panamericana http://www.classics.com/panam50.html
3. ^ 50th Anniversary of the Carrera Panamericana http://www.classics.com/panam50.html
4. ^ 50th Anniversary of the Carrera Panamericana http://www.classics.com/panam50.html