Otatitlán is a city in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. It stands at , just across the state border from Tuxtepec , Oaxaca. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name.

In the year 2000 census, Otatitlán municipality reported a total population of 5,236, with 4,554 of those living in the city. The municipality's covers a total surface area of 53.46 km², and it is drained by the Río Obispo , a tributary of the Río Papaloapan.

Otatitlán is also referred to as "Santuario". It is famous for its church, which is home to el Cristo Negro – one of three black Christ images that exist in Mexico.

A banana chip factory is also located there.

El Cristo Negro

The "Black Christ" of Ototitlán is a sacred relic, the focus of ritual worship among Mexico's Roman Catholics.

Tradition states that the blackened image, representing the figure of Christ Crucified, was washed up, on a raft, along the town's riverport dock in 1597. It was embraced by the local converts to Roman Catholicism as a replacement for the local god Yacatecutli , a commerce deity who was also traditionally depicted with black skin. Over the ensuing years, the town became a pilgrimage site.

In 1931, during the Cristero War between the secular state and Catholic rebels, the image was stolen and taken to the nearby village of San Antonio. There, anti-clerical forces under orders from Veracruz Governor Adalberto Tejada tried to set fire to it, but it refused to catch; the desecrators had to be satisfied with decapitating it. After recuperating their profaned icon, the townsfolk carved a new head for it. In 1950, the original head was recovered and put back in place; the replacement was also put in a display case in a place of honour in the sanctuary.

See also

• Esquipulas, in Guatemala

External links

• Otatitlán municipal website
• Otatitlán, Veracruz – Home of El Cristo Negro