[4] Villanueva limits to the north with the municipalities of El Molilno, with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the east; to the south with the municipalities of Urumita and San Juan del Cesar; and to the west with the Department of Cesar covering a total area of 265 km² and at altitude of 250 m over sea level.

[5] Prior to the arrival of the Spanish explorers in the early 16th Century the area of what is present-day Villanueva was inhabited by a Chimila tribe; the Itotos, then led by cacique Canopan and their settlement was called Timiriguaco ("great village").

[6] massacred occurred on December 8, 1998 in the neighborhood known as El Cafetal and some 11 people were assassinated by members of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) by orders of Carlos Castaño.

Alias "Jorge 40" confessed that the massacre had taken place because there had been reports that the neighborhood was an enclave of the Luciano Ariza Front of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla.

[7] The economy of Villanueva is based primarily on agriculture and commercial trade between the other Southern Guajira municipalities and the city of Valledupar in the Department of Cesar.