Frontera Corozal
Encyclopedia
Frontera Corozal is a mostly Ch’ol community located in the Mexican state of Chiapas
on the Usumacinta River
, which separates it from neighboring Guatemala
. The community was founded in the 1970s by families migrating from northern Chiapas. It is known for its dock with boats called lanchas which ferry people to the otherwise inaccessible Mayan ruins of Yaxchilan
as well as to Bethel, Guatemala
. It is also home to a regional museum, which is centered on two steles found nearby at Dos Caobas. The community is located in the Lacandon Jungle
, surrounded by tropical rainforest
, but this area has suffered severe damage. There have been recent efforts to promote conservation here, especially on communally owned lands.
municipality in the northeast of Chiapas. It is a border town, located on the banks of the Usumacinta River
across from Bethel, Guatemala
. The town was founded in 1976 by Ch’ol migrants from northern Chiapas along with a small number of Lacandon and Tzeltal
families. Relations among the ethnicities are mostly tranquil. The town and the immediate area consist of nine neighborhoods with about 11,000 inhabitants. Basic services are concentrated in the center of town near the river. The town celebrates the Festival of Corn (Fiesta del Elote) in August as well as a ceremony to ask for rain in May at the Tsolkinse caverns.
The town is connected to Lacanja Chansayab
, Chancalá and Palenque
. It is connected to Palenque via Frontiza del Sur highway. The town is about 22 km off the Fronteriza highway. This drive used to be unsafe but security issues have significantly improved. There are vans that provide transportation to the docks from Palenque. The town was only connected to the rest of the country via paved roads in the mid-1990s, and most people use Guatemalan cell phones if they use phones at all, because the Mexican network does not reach here.
, Palenque
and Piedras Negras in Guatemala. However, its most important function is its water connection to the otherwise inaccessible site of Yaxchilan
, with just about every tour coming here bringing visitors for the site. The town has a main dock area, with small narrow boats called “lanchas” to ferry visitors to the archeological site 25 km downriver, as well as to Guatemala across the river. As an aquatic border crossing point (there is no bridge over the river), lanchas in Frontera Corozal bring people one way to the Guatemalan town of Bethel. From there, tours are available to the distant ruins of Tikal
. The only government officials in Frontera Corozal or Bethel are respective border agents and it is necessary to check in with both in order to cross legally. Border crossers number between twenty and 120 people per day depending on the season.
The town has several cooperatives of local residents operating tourism related businesses. One is Escudo Jaguar, which provides boat trips to Yaxchilan and more extensive tours to ruins farther away. There are some small simple hotels as well as camping areas. Nueva Alianza has cheaper and more rustic lodging along with small boats to Yaxchilan. It is operated by the Sociedad Cooperativa de Bienes y Servicios Nueva Alianza, which is a Ch’ol organization. The cooperative has wildlife, a nursery for crocodiles, lowland pacas and deer. There are other smaller cooperatives just along the docks with also provide boating services.
at a site called Dos Caobas. The two monuments were moved to a communal house and now are in the museum after having been restored. The museum came under the direction of the state cultural agency CONECULTA to provide resources and direction for the collection.
Stele 1 or Stele of the King, dates from the reign of Itzam- Balam (Jaguar Shield) who governed Yaxchilan from 681 to 742 CE. The stone is worked on both sides. Side A contains three personages with Itzam-Balam on the right, standing erect, in profile with a military stance. In his right hand he holds a large lance with a shield in the left. On the left side of the stone, another individual is also erect and in profile but in a submissive stance, with his right hand over his head and the left grabbing the middle person by the hair. This middle person is located in the lower part of the scene and in a stance associated with the ritual extraction of blood from the penis which appears between his legs. On Side B, Itzam-Balam appears standing and in profile, in front of a captive seated in profile. The king is richly adorned and crowned with a semicircle of feathers in two layers. The king also has a large lance in his right hand and a shield in his left. The prisoner is simply dressed with his arms bound as he is prepared for sacrifice.
The second stele is worked on only one side and contains four people, two men and two women. The main personage is Itzam-Balam, who is seated on a throne pointing to another man at his feet on the right. Both of these are depicted in profile. The king is richly attired in jewelry and feathers. The lower man may represent the ruler of Dos Caobas, which was under Yaxchilan’s dominion at the time. He extends his left hand to the king with something that looks like a flower. Behind the king, there are two women standing and looking at the scene that is developing.
, cedar, mahogany
, Platymiscium
(legume family), sapodilla (Manilkara zapota), rubber trees, pine, cypress
, romerillo (a type of conifer), Montezuma cypress, manchineel, ficus
and guarumbo (Cecropia
) . Wildlife species include wild boar, bats, deer, skunk
s, pumas, turtles and various types of snakes and birds. However, the rainforest area has been badly damaged due to overexploitation and clearing. In early 2011, over 600 communal farmers from the area entered into an agreement with the government to conserve the environment on their lands in exchange for payment under the Reducción de Emisiones por Deforestación y Degradación Evitada plus (REDD+) plan. The communal land owners created seven reserves on their lands. In exchange, each member of the communal organization received 2,000 pesos as a first payment, brought personally by the state’s governor, Juan Sabines Guerrero
. The agreement calls for monthly payments as well as assistance in creating tourism opportunities and groves of palm oil trees on non reserve lands.
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
on the Usumacinta River
Usumacinta River
The Usumacinta River is a river in southeastern Mexico and northwestern Guatemala. It is formed by the junction of the Pasión River, which arises in the Sierra de Santa Cruz and the Salinas River, also known as the Chixoy, or the Negro, which descends from the Sierra Madre de Guatemala...
, which separates it from neighboring Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
. The community was founded in the 1970s by families migrating from northern Chiapas. It is known for its dock with boats called lanchas which ferry people to the otherwise inaccessible Mayan ruins of Yaxchilan
Yaxchilan
Yaxchilan is an ancient Maya city located on the bank of the Usumacinta River in what is now the state of Chiapas, Mexico. In the Late Classic Period Yaxchilan was one of the most powerful Maya states along the course of the Usumacinta, with Piedras Negras as its major rival...
as well as to Bethel, Guatemala
La Libertad, El Petén
La Libertad is a municipality in the El Petén department of Guatemala. It contains 79,416 people...
. It is also home to a regional museum, which is centered on two steles found nearby at Dos Caobas. The community is located in the Lacandon Jungle
Lacandon Jungle
The Lacandon Jungle is an area of rainforest which stretches from Chiapas, Mexico into Guatemala and into the southern part of the Yucatán Peninsula. The heart of this rainforest is located in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas near the border with Guatemala in the Montañas del Oriente...
, surrounded by tropical rainforest
Tropical rainforest
A tropical rainforest is an ecosystem type that occurs roughly within the latitudes 28 degrees north or south of the equator . This ecosystem experiences high average temperatures and a significant amount of rainfall...
, but this area has suffered severe damage. There have been recent efforts to promote conservation here, especially on communally owned lands.
Description
Frontera Corozal is a community located in the OcosingoOcosingo
Ocosingo is a city and its surrounding municipality of the same name in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The municipality borders the Usumacinta River along a portion where the river forms the international border with Guatemala. The city had a 2005 census population of 35,065 inhabitants, and serves...
municipality in the northeast of Chiapas. It is a border town, located on the banks of the Usumacinta River
Usumacinta River
The Usumacinta River is a river in southeastern Mexico and northwestern Guatemala. It is formed by the junction of the Pasión River, which arises in the Sierra de Santa Cruz and the Salinas River, also known as the Chixoy, or the Negro, which descends from the Sierra Madre de Guatemala...
across from Bethel, Guatemala
La Libertad, El Petén
La Libertad is a municipality in the El Petén department of Guatemala. It contains 79,416 people...
. The town was founded in 1976 by Ch’ol migrants from northern Chiapas along with a small number of Lacandon and Tzeltal
Tzeltal people
The Tzeltal people are the largest indigenous group mostly located in the highlands or Los Altos region of the Mexican state of Chiapas. They are one of many Mayan ethnic groups and they speak a a language which belongs to the Tzeltalan subgroup of Mayan languages...
families. Relations among the ethnicities are mostly tranquil. The town and the immediate area consist of nine neighborhoods with about 11,000 inhabitants. Basic services are concentrated in the center of town near the river. The town celebrates the Festival of Corn (Fiesta del Elote) in August as well as a ceremony to ask for rain in May at the Tsolkinse caverns.
The town is connected to Lacanja Chansayab
Lacanja Chansayab
Lacanja Chansayab is a village in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It is a tourist attraction that is close to Lacanja ruins and the waterfall at the Río Cedro....
, Chancalá and Palenque
Palenque, Chiapas
Palenque is a city and municipality located in the north of the state of Chiapas, Mexico. The city was named almost 200 years before the famous nearby Mayan ruins were discovered in the 18th century. The area has a significant indigenous population, mostly of the Ch'ol people, a Mayan descendent...
. It is connected to Palenque via Frontiza del Sur highway. The town is about 22 km off the Fronteriza highway. This drive used to be unsafe but security issues have significantly improved. There are vans that provide transportation to the docks from Palenque. The town was only connected to the rest of the country via paved roads in the mid-1990s, and most people use Guatemalan cell phones if they use phones at all, because the Mexican network does not reach here.
Tourism
The town is one of the most isolated which contains some tourism infrastructure. It is located near the archeological sites of BonampakBonampak
Bonampak is an ancient Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The site is approximately south of the larger site of Yaxchilan, under which Bonampak was a dependency, and the border with Guatemala...
, Palenque
Palenque
Palenque was a Maya city state in southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century. The Palenque ruins date back to 100 BC to its fall around 800 AD...
and Piedras Negras in Guatemala. However, its most important function is its water connection to the otherwise inaccessible site of Yaxchilan
Yaxchilan
Yaxchilan is an ancient Maya city located on the bank of the Usumacinta River in what is now the state of Chiapas, Mexico. In the Late Classic Period Yaxchilan was one of the most powerful Maya states along the course of the Usumacinta, with Piedras Negras as its major rival...
, with just about every tour coming here bringing visitors for the site. The town has a main dock area, with small narrow boats called “lanchas” to ferry visitors to the archeological site 25 km downriver, as well as to Guatemala across the river. As an aquatic border crossing point (there is no bridge over the river), lanchas in Frontera Corozal bring people one way to the Guatemalan town of Bethel. From there, tours are available to the distant ruins of Tikal
Tikal
Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala...
. The only government officials in Frontera Corozal or Bethel are respective border agents and it is necessary to check in with both in order to cross legally. Border crossers number between twenty and 120 people per day depending on the season.
The town has several cooperatives of local residents operating tourism related businesses. One is Escudo Jaguar, which provides boat trips to Yaxchilan and more extensive tours to ruins farther away. There are some small simple hotels as well as camping areas. Nueva Alianza has cheaper and more rustic lodging along with small boats to Yaxchilan. It is operated by the Sociedad Cooperativa de Bienes y Servicios Nueva Alianza, which is a Ch’ol organization. The cooperative has wildlife, a nursery for crocodiles, lowland pacas and deer. There are other smaller cooperatives just along the docks with also provide boating services.
Regional museum
The community has one local point of interest called the Museo Regional de la Cuenca del Río Usumacinta, which has exhibits on the indigenous communities of the area. The museum was founded in 1976 focusing on the biology, culture and history of this area. One impetus behind the founding of the museum was the finding of two Mayan steleStele
A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...
at a site called Dos Caobas. The two monuments were moved to a communal house and now are in the museum after having been restored. The museum came under the direction of the state cultural agency CONECULTA to provide resources and direction for the collection.
Stele 1 or Stele of the King, dates from the reign of Itzam- Balam (Jaguar Shield) who governed Yaxchilan from 681 to 742 CE. The stone is worked on both sides. Side A contains three personages with Itzam-Balam on the right, standing erect, in profile with a military stance. In his right hand he holds a large lance with a shield in the left. On the left side of the stone, another individual is also erect and in profile but in a submissive stance, with his right hand over his head and the left grabbing the middle person by the hair. This middle person is located in the lower part of the scene and in a stance associated with the ritual extraction of blood from the penis which appears between his legs. On Side B, Itzam-Balam appears standing and in profile, in front of a captive seated in profile. The king is richly adorned and crowned with a semicircle of feathers in two layers. The king also has a large lance in his right hand and a shield in his left. The prisoner is simply dressed with his arms bound as he is prepared for sacrifice.
The second stele is worked on only one side and contains four people, two men and two women. The main personage is Itzam-Balam, who is seated on a throne pointing to another man at his feet on the right. Both of these are depicted in profile. The king is richly attired in jewelry and feathers. The lower man may represent the ruler of Dos Caobas, which was under Yaxchilan’s dominion at the time. He extends his left hand to the king with something that looks like a flower. Behind the king, there are two women standing and looking at the scene that is developing.
Environment
Frontera Corozal is located in the Lacadon Jungle where it borders the Usumacinta River and the northern edge of the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve. The surrounding ecosystem is perennial tropical rainforest with plant species such as palms , oakOak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
, cedar, mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
, Platymiscium
Platymiscium
Platymiscium is a genus of legume in the Fabaceae family. It has a Neotropical distribution, from northern Mexico to southern Brazil. It contains 19 species according to Klitgaard . Platymiscium' is the only genus in the family with opposite leaves in all its species...
(legume family), sapodilla (Manilkara zapota), rubber trees, pine, cypress
Cypress
Cypress is the name applied to many plants in the cypress family Cupressaceae, which is a conifer of northern temperate regions. Most cypress species are trees, while a few are shrubs...
, romerillo (a type of conifer), Montezuma cypress, manchineel, ficus
Ficus
Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
and guarumbo (Cecropia
Cecropia
Cecropia is a Neotropical genus presently consisting of sixty-one recognized species with a highly distinctive lineage of dioecious trees....
) . Wildlife species include wild boar, bats, deer, skunk
Skunk
Skunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul odor. General appearance varies from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora...
s, pumas, turtles and various types of snakes and birds. However, the rainforest area has been badly damaged due to overexploitation and clearing. In early 2011, over 600 communal farmers from the area entered into an agreement with the government to conserve the environment on their lands in exchange for payment under the Reducción de Emisiones por Deforestación y Degradación Evitada plus (REDD+) plan. The communal land owners created seven reserves on their lands. In exchange, each member of the communal organization received 2,000 pesos as a first payment, brought personally by the state’s governor, Juan Sabines Guerrero
Juan Sabines Guerrero
Juan José Sabines Guerrero is a Mexican politician, son of the former Governor of Chiapas, Juan Sabines Gutiérrez and nephew of the writer Jaime Sabines, until 2006 he was member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party that carried him to be Municipal President of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, but renounced...
. The agreement calls for monthly payments as well as assistance in creating tourism opportunities and groves of palm oil trees on non reserve lands.