Salinas del Marqués

Known as las salineras, Salinas del Marqués was settled in the late 19th century by fishermen from Tehuantepec. Under Porfirio Díaz a railway was built and salt extraction began, which remains one of the main activities. When the port of Salina Cruz was planned, many residents moved to what is now the city, but the community kept growing and held on to a core of its own. It is an agencia municipal of Salina Cruz, in the Tehuantepec district, and its people are called salineros.

The village stands about 3 m above sea level on the Gulf of Tehuantepec, and the 2020 census counted 1,636 people, against 1,438 in 2010 and 1,265 in 2005; it is the second most populous locality of the municipality after the city of Salina Cruz. A 2021 Wikimedia Commons photo describes the salt pans as lagoons of standing seawater worked and processed by community fishermen who make salt. The salt is obtained by letting the water evaporate until it crystallizes, and the harvest is concentrated in spring and summer, the sunny, windy, low-rain season.

Other small settlements lie nearby: colonia Santita, with about 735 people, half a kilometre to the west, and Las Escolleras less than 2 km to the north. Playa del Marqués is about 2 km away. It is a place to see a traditional Isthmus trade and the open coast, not a destination with tourist infrastructure.