Today, the municipality is poor and agricultural but is home to several unique traditions such as the Santiago Tuxtla Fair and the Acarreo de Niño Dios, when images of the Child Jesus are carried in procession several times during the Christmas season.

The city's main plaza hosts the largest Olmec colossal head in Mexico, thus making it famous.

The city of Santiago Tuxtla is centered on a large square called Parque Juarez, which contains the largest of the Olmec colossal heads in Mexico, La Corbata.

This museum was founded in 1961 to display and preserve the area's pre Hispanic and colonial heritage, coming under the management of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in 1975.

Originally the land was part of the Hueyapan de Mimendi Hacienda, dedicated to the growing of zapote fruit.

One of the most popular for visitors is the Lorencillo Cave, which is the size of a house and named after a Dutch pirate who used it as a hideout.

[4] It is part of the Sierra de los Tuxtlas Region, a somewhat mountainous area created by volcanic activity.

Most of the territory lives on an extinct volcano named El Vigía along with the plains of the San Juan River, with an average altitude of 200 meters above sea level.

One aspect is that traditional music includes that of Huasteca influence such as sons and huapangos, played on jaranas and violins.

It also includes the crowning of a festival queen on the 22nd, a major procession in honor of the saint with representatives of the city's nine neighborhoods, and the State Fandango Competition.

[4][6] The Christmas season is characterized here with a unique tradition called the “Acarreo de Niño Dios” (Carrying of the Child Jesus).

The first occurs on 24 December, which the figures are brought to Christmas Even midnight mass accompanied by people dressed as shepherds and traditional music.

[4][7] One last tradition is "The Quema del Viejo" (Burning of the Old (Man)) occurs at midnight on December 31 after that evening's Acarreo.

[4] The name “Tuxtla” (originally Toxtla) is derived from Nahuatl and means “place of the rabbit” in reference to the year of the Aztec calendar when the Empire conquered the area.

[4] The annual Santiago Tuxtla Fair began as a religious festival in 1525 and was converted to the current version in 1880.

The current municipality was created in 1932 with the name of Juan de la Luz Enríquez, with the seat at Santiago Tuxtla.