Its 18th-century church of San Juan Bautista was used by the Zapatistas as a headquarters during the Mexican Revolution that began in 1910. The first school was established in 1926, and was destroyed in an earthquake in 1955; a two-story building replaced it in 1996. The first highway, linking Coatetelco to Alpuyeca and Mazatepec, was established in 1952. The town was electrified in the 1950s; the community health center was opened in 1959. The community policed itself until 1983. Ecotourism began in 2001.
