Chivela

Chivela gives its name to the pass where the mountains open to let federal highway 185 and the railway cross between the Gulf and the Pacific. The pass lies at about 224 metres in the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca, next to Asunción Ixtaltepec, and is where the northerly wind pours down toward the Gulf of Tehuantepec. The village of Chivela, on that same stretch, had 574 residents in 2020 (288 women and 286 men), down from 688 some years earlier. It stands at about 220 metres and its postal code is 70141.

It is an Isthmus of Tehuantepec community, with about 107 people who speak an indigenous language. Of its 217 economically active residents, 199 are men and 18 women. Many people live off the land or leave the village by day to work elsewhere, and trades practised here include blacksmithing, carpentry, bricklaying and welding.

The most visible thing for a traveller is the railway station. It was remodelled with the renovation of Line Z and reopened on 22 December 2023 as part of the Interoceanic Train, with one platform and five tracks; its neighbouring stations are Ixtepec, toward Salina Cruz, and Matías Romero, toward Coatzacoalcos. This curving stretch between Chivela and Nizandá saw a passenger derailment on 28 December 2025 that killed 14, and a freight derailment in July 2026 with no injuries.