Cuacuila

Cuacuila is a community in the municipality of Zacatlán, in Puebla's Sierra Norte, at the municipality's southern end. The name comes from the Nahuatl Kujukila, "place of the oak worms". It stands at about 2,250 m and had 374 inhabitants in 2020, mostly Indigenous people who speak Nahuatl as well as Spanish. It borders Omitlán, Tetelancingo, Yehuala, Xilitetitla, Xonocuautla, Zoquitla, Popotohuilco, Tetelco and Xaltatempa de Lucas.

According to local history, a group of Spaniards founded it in 1750, and at first it belonged to the municipality of Otatlán. In 1917 it broke away in a movement led by General Gabriel Barrios Cabrera, backed by Tetela de Ocampo: a guerrilla force rose at a fort 7 km from the village and won, and Barrios later joined the Revolution on Venustiano Carranza's side. In 1920 Cuacuila became part of the municipality of Zacatlán de las Manzanas.

The climate is mild and humid, with temperatures of 7 to 20 °C most of the year, and oak and pine forests around it shelter squirrels, coyotes and raccoons. People live from farming, mainly maize for their own use. It is a highly marginalised community, reached by three dirt roads shared by cars and livestock.