Santa Rita, El Salvador Explained

Santa Rita
Settlement Type:District
Pushpin Map:El Salvador
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Pushpin Mapsize:310
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in El Salvador
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: El Salvador
Subdivision Type1:Department
Subdivision Name1: Chalatenango
Subdivision Type2:Municipality
Subdivision Name2:Chalatenango Centro
Leader Title:Mayor
Leader Name:Ismael Romero Gutiérrez (ARENA)
Established Title:Established
Established Date:1807 or 1822
Established Title2:Disestablished
Established Date2:12 May 1902
Established Title3:Reestablished
Established Date3:28 April 1903
Named For:Rita of Cascia[1]
Unit Pref:Imperial
Area Total Km2:53.14
Population As Of:2020
Population Total:7,367[2]
Population Density Km2:138.6
Utc Offset:–6
Coordinates:14.1286°N -89.005°W
Elevation Footnotes:[3]
Elevation M:383

Santa Rita is a district in the Chalatenango department of El Salvador and is one of the largest municipalities of Chalatenango. It has a shoreline on Lake Suchitlán and is bordered by the municipalities of Comalapa, Dulce Nombre de María, Concepción Quetzaltepeque, El Paraíso, and San Rafael.[4]

History

Official reports record the town of Santa Rita being established in 1822, while according to Colonial Intendant Antonio Gutiérrez y Ulloa, it was established in 1807.[5] [6] Santa Rita was a part of San Salvador from its establishment until 13 May 1833, after which it was transferred to Chalatenango under the administration of Tejutla until being returned to San Salvador on 21 October 1833. In 1835, it was transferred to Cuscatlán and was incorporated into El Salvador in 1841.

On 1 November 1846, General Francisco Malespín defeated Salvadoran soldiers under Joaquín Peralta, who were loyal to President Eugenio Aguilar, in battle in Santa Rita during his war to retake the presidency. Santa Ana transferred a final time to Chalatenango in 1855. It was dissolved on 12 May 1902 and transferred to Dulce Nombre de María on the executive decree of President Tomás Regalado. President Pedro José Escalón reestablished the municipality through an executive decree on 28 April 1903. Another law was passed on 15 July 1919 that reinforced the existence of Santa Rita as separate from both Tejutla and Dulce Nombre de María.

On 17 March 1982, four Dutch journalists and four guerrillas of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) were massacred on the road from El Paraíso to Santa Rita by the Atonal Battalion during the Salvadoran Civil War.[7]

Geography

Santa Rita has an elevation of 1,257 feet or 383 meters and is 20.52 square miles or 53.14 square kilometers large. According to Global Forest Watch, from 2001 to 2019, the municipality lost 310 hectares of tree cover, which was a decrease of 18%.[8]

Population

Santa Rita had a population of 1,090 in 1890 and a population of 2,241 in 1956.[9] In the 2007 census, Santa Rita had a population of 5,985 people, with only 400 or 6.7% living in urban areas and the remainder living in rural areas.[10] There were 1,498 occupied homes with an average of 6 people per household.[11] As of 2020, the municipality had a population of 7,367.

Administrative divisions

Santa Rita is divided into four cantons and three caserios:

Mayors of Santa Rita

The current mayor of Santa Rita is Ismael Romero Gutiérrez of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA). The following table lists all the elected mayors of Santa Rita since 1994.

MayorElectedTerm of officePolitical party
Assumed officeLeft officeDuration
María Luisa Mena de Guardado19941 May 19941 May 1997Nationalist Republican Alliance[12]
Adolfo Guardado Vásquez19971 May 19971 May 2000Nationalist Republican Alliance[13]
Atilio López López20001 May 20001 May 2003Social Christian Union[14]
Adolfo Guardado Vásquez20031 May 20031 May 2006National Conciliation Party[15]
Ismael Romero Gutiérrez20061 May 20061 May 2024Nationalist Republican Alliance[16]
2009[17]
2012[18]
2015
2018[19]
2021[20]

See also

References

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Santa Rita. es. 6 March 2021. iSDEM. 25 January 2018.
  2. Web site: Santa Rita. City Population. 2020. 17 September 2020. en.
  3. Web site: Santa Rita. Geonames. 5 March 2021. en.
  4. Web site: Santa Rita. 1 February 2014. 22 May 2021. es. Chalatenango.sv.
  5. Web site: Santa Rita. 17 September 2020. 4 October 2006. Fondo de Inversión Social para el Desarrollo Loca. es.
  6. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20161011031030/http://elsalvadoreshermoso.com/2016/09/santa-rita-chalatenango.html. Santa Rita, Chalatenango. 11 October 2016. September 2016. 5 March 2021. es. ElSalvadorEsHermoso.
  7. Web site: From Madness to Hope: the 12–Year War in El Salvador: Report of the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador. en. 22 May 2021. 26 January 2001. The Commission on the Truth for El Salvador. Betancur. Belisario. Figueredo Planchart. Reinaldo. Buergenthal. Thomas.
  8. Web site: Tree Cover Loss in Santa Rita, Chalatenango, El Salvador. en. Global Forest Watch. 5 March 2021.
  9. Ministry of the Economy 1959, p. 216
  10. Census 2008, p. 34
  11. Census 2008, p. 79
  12. Web site: Memoria Anual de Labores – Correspondiente a 1994 y Memoria de Labores de las Elecciones de 1994. Annual Memory of Labors – Correspondence to 1994 and Memory of Labors of the 1994 Elections. es. Supreme Electoral Court. San Salvador, El Salvador. July 1994. 56.
  13. Web site: Memorial Especial – Elecciones 1997. 1997. 12 August 2023. Supreme Electoral Court. es. Special Memory – 1997 Elections. 71.
  14. Web site: Memorial Especial – Elecciones 2000. 2000. 12 August 2023. Supreme Electoral Court. es. Special Memory – 2000 Elections. 151.
  15. Web site: Memorial Especial – Elecciones 2003. 2003. 19 January 2024. Supreme Electoral Court. es. Special Memory – 2003 Elections. 130.
  16. Web site: Memorial Especial – Elecciones 2006. 2006. 12 August 2023. Supreme Electoral Court. es. Special Memory – 2006 Elections. 182.
  17. Web site: Memorial Especial – Elecciones 2009. June 2009. 9 January 2023. Supreme Electoral Court. es. Special Memory – 2009 Elections. 66.
  18. Web site: Memorial Especial – Elecciones 2012. 2012. 12 August 2023. Supreme Electoral Court. es. Special Memory – 2012 Elections. 145.
  19. Web site: Memorial Especial – Elecciones 2018. 2018. 12 August 2023. Supreme Electoral Court. es. Special Memory – 2018 Elections. 112.
  20. Web site: Memorial Especial – Elecciones 2021. 2021. 12 August 2023. Supreme Electoral Court. es. Special Memory – 2021 Elections. 229.