Título II. Poblacion y territorio

The population of the municipality is constituted by all the inhabitants of its territorial circumscription.

Residency is the municipal circumscription in which a natural person resides.

A neighbor is a person who has continuous residence for more than one (1) year in a municipal circumscription or who, in that same place, has the principal seat of their business or patrimonial interests of any nature. In the absence of these circumstances, the natural person shall be a neighbor of the municipal circumscription in which they are found. Likewise, a foreigner legally resident in the country and habitually settled in a municipal circumscription shall be considered a neighbor. A transient is a person who is accidentally in a municipal circumscription, having their status as neighbor in another. Intent to reside shall be presumed from continuous permanence for one (1) year in a municipal circumscription, such presumption ceasing if it is proved that the residence is accidental.

A Guatemalan who, for reasons of work, profession, studies or other similar cause, temporarily resides abroad, shall retain his status as a resident of the last municipal circumscription in which he appears registered as such.

The rights and obligations of residents are:

a)To exercise citizen rights in accordance with the provisions of the Political Constitution of the Republic and the Electoral and Political Parties Law.

b)To seek municipal public offices.

c)To serve and defend the interests of the municipality and municipal autonomy.

d)To contribute to municipal public expenditures in the manner prescribed by law.

e)To participate in municipal political activities.

f)To participate actively and voluntarily in the formulation, planning, execution and evaluation of municipal and community public policies.

g)To be regularly informed by the municipal government of the results of municipal policies and plans and of the rendering of accounts, in the manner provided by law.

h)To be a member of the municipal citizen social-audit commission.

i)To use municipal public services in accordance with their nature and to access communal uses in accordance with applicable norms.

j)To participate in consultations of residents in accordance with the law.

k)To request a municipal popular consultation on matters of great significance for the municipality, in the manner provided by this Code.

l)To request the provision and, where applicable, the establishment of the corresponding municipal public service.

m)Those other rights and duties established in the laws.

Domiciled foreigners who are of legal age have the rights and duties of residents, except those of a political nature. Nevertheless, they shall have the rights provided in the terms of general electoral legislation.

Neighbors may organize themselves into community associations, including the own and traditional forms arising within the different communities, in the manner established by the laws on the matter and this Code.

The neighborhood associations referred to in the preceding article shall be constituted by public deed, the testimony of which shall be presented to the civil registrar, for purposes of the granting of legal personality, which shall take effect upon its registration in the corresponding book of the civil register, within a period not to exceed thirty (30) calendar days. The requirements to be fulfilled by the public deed, without prejudice to what is established in Article twenty-nine (29) of the Notarial Code, shall be: name, seat and duration of the association, clearly establishing its purposes, objectives, scope of its action, form of its organization, reliable identification of the persons comprising it, and designation of the person or persons who shall exercise its legal representation.

The communities of the indigenous peoples are forms of natural social cohesion and as such have the right to recognition of their juridical personality, and shall be registered in the civil register of the corresponding municipality, with respect for their internal organization and administration which is governed in accordance with their own norms, values and procedures, with their respective traditional authorities recognized and respected by the State, in accordance with constitutional and legal provisions.

The own forms of relationship or organization of the communities of the indigenous peoples among themselves are respected and recognized, in accordance with traditional criteria and norms or with the dynamic generated by those same communities.

When it is in the interests of municipal development and administration, or at the request of the neighbors, the Municipal Council may divide the municipality into different internal forms of territorial organization, observing, in all cases, the urban planning and urban and rural development norms established in the municipality, the principles of deconcentration and local decentralization and subject to what is stipulated in the articles of this chapter. Prior to issuing the agreement by which it modifies the category of a populated center among those indicated in the following articles, the Municipal Council must have the favorable opinion of the Municipal Planning Office, of the National Institute of Statistics and of the Institute of Municipal Development.

The municipality shall remit in the month of July of each year, certification of the territorial division of its municipality to the National Institute of Statistics and to the National Geographic Institute.

It is the territorial circumscription in which a Municipal Council exercises authority. The territorial circumscription is continuous and therefore is composed of the different forms of territorial ordering agreed by the Municipal Council. The capital of the district is the populated center where the municipality has its seat.

The requirements and conditions for elevating the category of an aldea or caserío are the following:

ALDEA: populated center that has or is provided with:

a)A population from 5,000 to 9,999 inhabitants,

b)A literacy rate of 25% of its population,

c)Constructions or buildings aligned forming streets in any form,

d)Underground network of black-water and storm-water drains,

e)Domiciliary supply of potable water distributed by piping and public tank,

f)A market with a building, as a minimum,

g)A park or plaza,

h)Public lighting service in at least 75% of its territory,

i)Health Center and pharmacy,

j)Authorized cemetery.

k)Mixed Primary Education School with library,

l)Public Security,

m)Bank agency in any of its modalities.

CASERÍO: populated center that has or is provided with:

a)A population from 2,000 to 4,999 inhabitants,

b)A literacy rate of 10% of its population,

c)Constructions or buildings forming streets or not forming streets,

d)Underground network of black-water and storm-water drains,

e)Domiciliary supply of potable water distributed by piping and public tank,

f)Public lighting service in at least 25% of its territory.

The forms of municipal territorial organization established in this Code as paraje, cantón, barrio, zona, colonia, distrito, lotificación, asentamiento, urban or agrarian parcelamiento, microregión, finca and other forms of municipal territorial organization shall be defined by the Municipal Council, which shall formulate and execute territorial organization and integral development plans for the municipality, issuing the corresponding ordinances and regulations. In any case, lotificaciones, asentamientos, parcelamientos, colonias, fincas and other forms of municipal territorial organization that develop urbanization projects shall have a municipal license.

The terms or expressions ciudad and villa shall be used solely with a denominative character to distinguish the cabecera of a municipality and not to establish a category for purposes of municipal territorial elevation, since they are not contemplated within the local entities into which the municipality is divided.

Conflicts arising from the lack of definition of the existing boundaries between two or more municipalities shall be submitted, by the affected Municipal Councils, to the cognizance of the Ministry of Governance, which shall have a time limit of six (6) months, from receipt of the file, to gather the background information that they shall provide to it and the opinion of the National Geographic Institute, to complete the studies, information, proceedings and other measures that are necessary, on the basis of which it shall issue an opinion, and shall elevate it to the cognizance of the President of the Republic, so that, if he so deems appropriate, he may submit the corresponding bill for consideration by the Congress of the Republic, for its cognizance and decision.

Boundary conflicts that exist or arise between communities of the same municipality shall be resolved with mediation by the Municipal Council, taking into account the positions of each of the parties in conflict, in coordination with the authorities recognized by the communities, promoting the participation of the affected communities and conciliation between them.

For the initiation of the file for the creation or modification of municipalities, the request, duly signed or marked with a fingerprint impression, of at least ten (10%) percent of the neighbors in exercise of their rights, resident in the places where its creation or modification is intended, is required. Said request shall be formalized before the Governorship of the jurisdictional department or that of the one in which the greatest part of the territory to be segregated, annexed or merged is located, as the case may be, setting forth therein the facts and circumstances that motivate it and that the other requirements referred to in Article 28 of this Code are met.

The circumscription of a municipal district may only be modified for the causes and in the manner determined by the Political Constitution of the Republic and this Code. In any case, the circumscription of a municipality shall be within the scope of a single department, remaining subject to what the Congress of the Republic determines when, as a consequence of division or merger, the circumscription of a new municipality affects more than one department.

The creation of a municipality requires:

a)That it have twenty thousand (20,000) inhabitants, or more;

b)That a territorial circumscription can be assigned to it for the satisfaction of the needs of its neighbors and possibilities for social, economic and cultural development, within which it has the natural and financial resources that allow it and guarantee the provision and maintenance of local public services. For the foregoing, the National Geographic Institute shall issue an opinion, in which the limits of the territory of the new municipality shall be defined;

c)That the municipal circumscription assigned to the new municipality does not prejudice the natural and financial resources essential for the existence of the municipality from which it is separating. With respect to said situation, the Ministries of Environment and Natural Resources and of Public Finance, respectively, shall issue the opinions indicating that said resources are not prejudiced;

d)That there exists basic physical and social infrastructure that guarantees acceptable conditions for the development of the new municipality. For such purpose, the Municipal Council shall request said report from the Municipal Planning Office of the municipality from which the new municipality shall be segregated;

e)That sources of income of a constant nature are guaranteed, which must be guaranteed by the Municipal Council from which the new municipality shall be segregated;

f)That a favorable technical opinion has been issued by the Secretariat for Planning and Programming of the Presidency, considering the technical and information inputs of the relevant institutions and agencies.

Upon receipt of the request and fulfillment of the corresponding requirements, within a time limit not exceeding thirty (30) days, the departmental governor shall carry out the following:

a)Grant a hearing to the representatives of the neighbors and local authorities of the communities or places of the corresponding municipality that wish to form a new one.

b)Grant a hearing to the municipal councils of the affected municipality or municipalities, or eventually interested in the proceeding, and to the governorship or governorships of the departments that could be adversely affected.

c)Order the investigation and verification of all the facts and circumstances set forth in the request and of others required under this Code, for which the autonomous and decentralized entities and other public agencies must give the information and lend the collaboration requested of them, as well as gather any other information or documentation and carry out any evidentiary measure deemed necessary for the better understanding of the case.

Once the hearings have been held, and the investigations exhausted, the departmental governor, expressing his opinion, shall refer the record to the Ministry of the Interior for its knowledge, within a time limit not exceeding ninety (90) days.

The Ministry of Gobernación shall have a time limit of six (6) months, from receipt of the file, to verify everything done before the departmental governorship and to complete the studies, information, proceedings and other measures necessary to determine exact compliance with the requirements to decide on the creation or modification of a municipality, also issuing the corresponding opinion, and shall forward it to the President of the Republic for his knowledge, so that, if he considers it appropriate, within a time limit of thirty (30) days, he submits the corresponding law initiative to the consideration of the Congress of the Republic, for its knowledge and decision.

If the Congress of the Republic considers it necessary, it may submit to consultation of the populations of the affected municipality or municipalities or department or departments any matter aimed at dividing or modifying its circumscription, before issuing the law deciding it.

The municipal seat shall be in the town designated in the Decree of its creation issued by the Congress of the Republic. The Municipal Council or ten percent (10%) of neighbors who meet the qualifications referred to in this Code may request the transfer of the municipal seat, for which purpose the procedure shall be in accordance with what is established in this chapter, insofar as applicable.