General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río

Some municipal listings simply call it Cárdenas. General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río is the fifth largest of the 415 localities in the municipality of Tihuatlán, with 2,715 residents in 2020, slightly fewer than the 2,976 counted in 2010. Its name honours Lázaro Cárdenas, president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.

The village lies on low, hot ground about 50 metres above sea level, with an average temperature close to 24 °C. Federal Highway 130, the Pachuca–Tuxpan road, runs straight through it, and the Huizotate stream crosses the settlement. It sits right against the northern edge of Poza Rica and, like other Tihuatlán communities, now belongs to that oil city's metropolitan area; two of its streets are even called Pemex and Carretera a Pemex. It is a place where people live and pass through rather than a destination: there is a primary school, neighbourhood shops and a roadside restaurant or two. In 2020, 85% of homes had a mobile phone and 43% had internet.

The municipality straddles the line between the Huasteca and Totonac country and calls itself the furniture capital of Veracruz, for its many carpentry workshops and furniture stores. In the town of Tihuatlán, Saint Francis of Assisi is celebrated from 4 to 8 October, and at dawn on the 4th the Danza de la Vaca is performed to drum and flute. Regional dishes include zacahuil, caldo macho and empascalado stews, and the Cazones River is the nearest place to cool off.