Morales, Guatemala

Morales on the map of Guatemala

Morales is a small town in eastern Guatemala. It is the administrative seat of the greater community ( municipality ) in the department of Izabal. In the 1295 km ² large municipality of about 90,000 people live in Morales about 15,000.

Geography

Morales is located southeast of the Izabal lake in the valley of the Río Motagua. Between the lake and the river running in a northeasterly direction the foothills of the Sierra de las Minas, which here reach heights of about 600 m and further to the east end in the 1,200 m high Montañas del Mico. In the southeast, the Sierra del Merendon forms the border with Honduras. The municipality comprises the south-eastern part of the department of Izabal. It is bordered to the north by Livingston, in the northeast of Puerto Barrios, on the southeast by Honduras and the southwest and west to Los Amates. It is divided into 9 villages ( Aldeas ), 36 Weiler ( Caseríos ) and some other smaller districts and places. The town Morales has grown together with the neighboring Bananera in the East for some time. Due to the strong influence of the former U.S. United Fruit Company some villages of the Municipalities have English names ( including York, Dartmouth, Sioux, Nacho Creek ). The climate is tropical hot in general.

History

The municipality was officially established on June 24, 1920. Soon it came under de facto neo-colonial domination, the United Fruit Company, which set up their headquarters here and at very favorable conditions acquired enormous lands to grow bananas. In the 1950s, President Jacobo Arbenz tried untapped UFC country to distribute for compensation to farmers and implemented on the UFC's plantations adequate working conditions. At the request of the Government of Guatemala UFC in Washington DC was accused of communist subversion efforts, which eventually led to a U.S. military intervention (Operation PBSUCCESS ). On the other hand, the UFC merits acquired to improve the local infrastructure.

Economy and Transport

Morales is on the highway CA 9 ( Carretera Interoceanica ), which runs from Puerto Barrios on the Caribbean coast on Guatemala City to Puerto San José on the Pacific. A few kilometers north-east of Morales branches at La Ruidosa the highway CA 13 after Petén from. In addition to the CA 9 extends to a currently unused railway line, which is why Morales also has a disused railway station. The city benefits from through traffic and also some of the nearby tourist destinations on Lake Izabal. Among the agricultural products sector, in addition to bananas among other things, beans and corn, and various other fruits and vegetables. An important role of the service sector.

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