- Los Tuxtlas
The Los Tuxtlas region, very broadly, occupies parts of south central
Veracruz , in east centralMexico . The region includes theSierra de Los Tuxtlas and stretches fromLaguna Alvarado , along the Gulf of Mexico, toLaguna del Ostión , then along the westernmost tributaries of Laguna del Ostión, to the northernmost tributaries ofRío Coatzacoalcos , then along theRío San Juan to its merger withRío Papaloapan flowing into theGulf of Mexico .Geographically, the
Sierra de Los Tuxtlas is the volcanic massif centered onCatemaco , bordering on the Gulf of Mexico and encompassing the gulf coast and inland terrain of the volcanic massifs of San Martín Tuxtla, Santa Marta and San Martín Pajapan from the Gulf of Mexico and roughly 100 meters inland to app. 1750 meters above sea level, including parts or all of the 9 counties (municipios ) ofÁngel R. Cabada ,Santiago Tuxtla ,San Andrés Tuxtla ,Catemaco ,San Pedro Soteapan ,Tatahuicapan de Juárez ,Mecayapan ,Pajapan andHueyapan de Ocampo .The
Biósfera Los Tuxtlas occupies mostly the coastal and higher elevations of the Sierra de Los Tuxtlas, including parts of all the above counties except Hueyapan de Ocampo.The three counties of
Santiago Tuxtla ,San Andrés Tuxtla andCatemaco , which share common history, traditions and vicinity ofVolcano San Martín Tuxtla , usually refer to themselves as Los Tuxtlas and ignore the rest of the area.When Los Tuxtlas is referred to as the
Olmec homeland, Los Tuxtlas includes all of the above plus parts of westernTabasco state.To confuse the issues even more - the northernmost parts of Los Tuxtlas become part of the
Llanura de Sotavento . The southern parts are known asSierra de Soteapan , or theSierra de Santa Marta with a subregion known as theSerranía de Bastonal .Most of the Tuxtlas are considered part of the
Papaloapan river basin, the southernmost section is part of the Río Coatzacoalcos river basin, and to keep geographers on their toes, that southern part also becomes part of theTehuantepec Isthmus .Politically, the area is a hodgepodge of political districts and has no cohesive representation. The 2005 electoral redistricting threw in some more municipalities into the Tuxtlas region. There is now a new political gambit splitting the area into
microregions , Los Tuxtlas andLas Olmecas . It's an effort to ammeliorate poverty, but throws Los Tuxtlas together with several new municipalities.References
* [http://www.tuxtlas.com/los_tuxtlas/ - tuxtlas.com: Los Tuxtlas]
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