Juan Díaz Covarrubias

Juan Díaz Covarrubias is the busiest community in the municipality of Hueyapan de Ocampo in southern Veracruz, about 5 km from the municipal seat and only 21 m above sea level. It has 6,220 residents and holds most of the municipality's shops, services and main roads. Life revolves around the Cuatotolapan sugar mill, which processes cane from a wide area; when growers are paid for the harvest, the money flows through Acayucan, Catemaco, San Andrés Tuxtla and Hueyapan.

The town was first called San Juan Sugar, a nod to the strong British presence at the mill in the early 20th century. During the religious persecution of the Cristero War the hybrid name was dropped in favour of the Xalapa-born poet Juan Díaz Covarrubias. Next to town is the Loma de los Ingleses, the hill where the European technicians who built the mill lived. A railway once hauled cane to the factory and the train is still there; one of its narrow-gauge engines, a 1921 Baldwin sold by the national railways to the Compañía Industrial Azucarera in 1968, is now preserved privately in Jojutla, Morelos. Sugar money pushed construction of the Gulf coast highway between Acayucan and Catemaco from 1955, and drew many migrants from Oaxaca, first as cane cutters and later as traders, so a large share of the town has Oaxacan roots.

Its emblem is an arched bridge made in the United States. It was meant for the road to Miapan de Caldelas, but General Aarón Sáenz Garza had it put up here instead, beside the mill. The climate is hot and humid, averaging about 25 °C, with summer rains and northerly winds (nortes) from September to February. The main festival honours Saint Joseph, the patron, on 19 March, and April brings a carnival with dances, fireworks, horse races and mojigangas (giant puppet figures).