Tatahuicapan

Much of the water drunk in Coatzacoalcos comes from here. The municipality holds the Yuribia dam on the Texizapan River, which feeds the aqueducts of the Coatzacoalcos–Minatitlán–Cosoleacaque industrial corridor. That dependence gives the town unusual leverage: in September 2006, for example, Nahua and Popoluca communities from the hills shut the dam's valves, cutting water to those cities, to demand public works and compensation after a flood.

Tatahuicapan is the seat and main town of Tatahuicapan de Juárez municipality, with 8,611 people in 2020. It lies on the southwestern side of the Los Tuxtlas region, near the San Martín and Santa Marta hills, about 140 metres above sea level. The climate is hot, averaging about 25 °C, and very wet, with around 2,900 mm of rain a year. The Tatahuicapan, Zapoapan, Piedra Labrada, Texizapan and Temoloapan rivers cross the area, and the forest still holds deer, peccary, anteaters, toucans and parrots.

The name is Nahuatl, read either as 'burnt river' or 'the grandfather comes from the river'. The town appears in records from 1580 as part of the Coatzacoalcos district. In 1886 its lands, along with those of Soteapan and Mecayapan, were granted to Manuel Romero Rubio; his heirs sold them in 1905 to the British contractor Weetman Pearson, whose company passed them to Pemex in 1948. Residents had petitioned for an ejido since 1934 and only received land after 1952, with final possession between 1963 and 1966. For decades it was a congregación of Mecayapan, until the municipality was created on 20 March 1997 and named after Benito Juárez.

The calendar turns on two feasts: San Gabriel, the patron, from 21 to 25 March, which also marks the municipality's founding, and San Isidro, from 13 to 16 May. The local music is played on the jarana, and local crafts include basketry, pottery and leatherwork. The centre is built around the municipal park, the town hall and the church; from there run the road to Pajapan and the route down to the Gulf coast via Benigno Mendoza and La Perla del Golfo.