El JÃcaro, El Progreso
El Jícaro on the map of Guatemala
El Jícaro is a 4,500 inhabitants counting place and a municipality in the department of El Progreso in Guatemala. It is located about 100 kilometers northeast of Guatemala City and 29 kilometers east of the Río Motagua Guastatoya to 245 m altitude. A few kilometers north of the town runs the important Atlantic Highway CA 9 that connects Guatemala City and Puerto Barrios. El Jícaro has a station on the parallel to CA 9 extending railway line was shut down in 2007.
The 249 km ² large municipality located in the southwest of El Progreso and extends from the valley of the Río Motagua in the nearby mountains in the south. It has a total of about 14,000 inhabitants. In addition to the main town of El Jícaro is the municipality from the seven " rural communities " ( Aldeas ) Paso de los Jalapas, Las Ovejas, El Espíritu Santo, Los Bordos de Barillas, Lo de China, Agua Caliente and El Pino. Then there are the seven hamlets El Tambor, La Palma, Piedra Ancha, Ojo de Agua, Santa Rosalia and Las Joyas.
Adjacent Municipalities are Acasaguastlán San Cristóbal and San Agustín Acasaguastlán in the north, as well as Guastatoya in the West. In the south, El Jícaro adjacent to the Department of Jalapa, on the east by Zacapa.
El Jícaro was formerly the indigenous name Xicalli and then Xicaros, which referred to a local Mayan tribe. By 1908 the town was under its Spanish name, a rural community of San Cristóbal Acasaguastlán Municipalities and belonged to the department of Zacapa with this. End of August 1908 El Jícaro an independent municipality in the department of El Progreso new.
In 1872, Guatemalan President José María Orellana later Pinto was born in El Jícaro.