Oluta

Oluta is the seat of its namesake municipality in southern Veracruz, on the edge of the Sotavento plains at about 80 m above sea level. It has grown into one built-up area with Acayucan, which wraps around it to the north and west. The 2020 census counted 13,995 people. The name comes from the Nahuatl olotl-tan, "place of corn cobs", and its coat of arms shows two ears of maize, an Olmec head, Hernán Cortés and La Malinche.

Oluta holds that Malinalli, Cortés's interpreter, was born in the town, and after the conquest it was granted in encomienda to her and Juan Jaramillo. Colonial chroniclers describe her as the daughter of the chief of the Oluta and Jáltipan area, though her exact birthplace is still argued over. Before the conquest it was a Popoluca settlement. Cortés came through in 1524 on his way to Coatzacoalcos and Honduras. Oluta became a municipality in 1831; in 1906 local men joined the Acayucan uprising against Porfirio Díaz; and in 1994 it was raised to the rank of villa.

Town life happens on the main square, where people gather most evenings. Facing it are the parish church of San Juan Bautista, the town hall built in 1952 and given a neoclassical makeover in 2008, and the two-storey cattle ranchers' association building of 1975 with its red-brick arches. The council put up a statue of La Malinche bearing Oluta's coat of arms. The main fiesta honours San Juan Bautista from 22 to 28 June, and the Dance of the Conquest is usually staged then. Local food includes pork and epazote tamales, mole prieto, memelas, and popo, a drink of cacao, rice and azquiote.