Cuajinicuilapa

Cuajinicuilapa
Town
Main plaza of Cuajinicuilapa
Cuajinicuilapa Location in Mexico
Coordinates: 16°28′18″N 98°24′55″W / 16.47167°N 98.41528°W / 16.47167; -98.41528
Country	Mexico
State	Guerrero
Government
• Municipal President	C. José Guadalupe Salvador Cruz Castro
Area
• Total	715 km2 (276 sq mi)
Elevation (of seat)	50 m (160 ft)
Population (2005) Municipality
• Total	25,922
• Seat	10,282
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
Postal code (of seat)	41919
Area code(s)	741
Demonym	Cuijileña
Website	[1] (Spanish)

Cuajinicuilapa is a town in Cuajinicuilapa Municipality in the Costa Chica region of the Mexican state of Guerrero. A low-lying area, it borders the Pacific Ocean and the state of Oaxaca. The municipality has the state's largest population of Afro-Mexicans with most of the population of this ethnicity. The town and municipality are highly socioeconomically marginalized and it is the poorest municipality of the state, with the economy dependent on livestock and fishing.

The town of Cuajinicuilapa is 361 km from the Guerrero state capital of Chilpancingo and has an altitude of fifty meters above sea level. While it is the commercial center of a rural municipality with two small supermarkets, various stores and a traditional municipal market, it has a high level of socioeconomic marginalization. It is also the center of communications and transportation with mail service and telephone mostly limited to here and it has a small airstrip.

It is the seat of a municipality, which promotes its Afro-Mexican heritage. The town was host to the 13th Encuentro de Pueblos Negros in 2011, sponsored by the Centro Cultural de España en México. The purpose of the event is to promote Afro-Mexican identity, issues and culture in Mexico.

The Museo de las Culturas Afromestizas, formerly called the Museo de la Tercera Raíz, is the first museum in Mexico dedicated to the descendents of African slaves in Mexico and their history. It is located in the center of the town, near the main plaza.

Cuajinicuilapa is the largest Afro-Mexican community in the Costa Chica region of Guerrero with most of the population of this ethnicity. The municipal government promotes Cuajinicuilapa as the “municipio negro” or “black municipality” as a way to obtain federal resources. Afro-Mexican culture is not defined by language or dress, but rather body language, vocabulary and a shared history. Much of the “black” population is mixed with indigenous. Those native to the municipality are called criollos even if black. There is some hostility between blacks and indigenous. Much of the population of the area has migrated out since the 1980s. The population has grown, but much of this is because of migration into Cuajinicuilapa by other groups, including Amuzgos and Mixtecs, especially in the 2000s. They have become the majority in a number of communities in the municipality including El Cuije and La Petaca. As of 2010, there are just over 1,300 who speak an indigenous language, most of whom speak Amuzgo and Mixtec.