San Juan Cotzal in the context of "Quiché Department"

The Ixil (pronounced [iʂil]) are a Maya people located in the states of Campeche and Quintana Roo in Mexico and in the municipalities of Santa María Nebaj, San Gaspar Chajul, and San Juan Cotzal in the northern part of the Cuchumatanes mountains of the department of Quiché, Guatemala. These three municipalities are known as the Ixil Triangle and are the place of origin of the Ixil culture and where the majority of the population lives.

During the Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1996), the Ixil people were victims of repression and violence by the Guatemalan military government in what is known as the Guatemalan genocide; many were displaced forcibly to Mexico to escape the violence. Once on Mexican territory, they established refugee camps that later turned to new towns and permanent communities.

Santa María Nebaj (Spanish pronunciation: [neˈβax]; usually abbreviated to Nebaj) is a town and municipality in the Guatemalan department of El Quiché. Santa María Nebaj is part of the Ixil Community, along with San Juan Cotzal and San Gaspar Chajul. Native residents speak the Mayan Ixil language.

The community is named in part for Nebaj, a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Maya civilization.

Chajul (Spanish pronunciation: [tʃaˈxul]; full name San Gaspar Chajul) is a town and municipality in the Guatemalan department of El Quiché. Chajul is part of the Ixil Community, along with San Juan Cotzal and Santa María Nebaj. The Ixil region is isolated by beautiful mountains and has maintained its rich Ixil Maya traditions and language. Chajul, Nebaj, and Cotzal make up the Ixil Region in the Department of Quiché in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Having been at the heart of the 36-year civil war, Chajul experiences post-war challenges such as emotional trauma, land displacement, and fragmented families. Additionally, unemployment is high, large families live in one-room adobe houses with open cooking fires, opportunities for women are scarce, and family- and gender-based violence are common. The community has a corn-based agricultural economy in which adults struggle daily to feed their families and the average income is $1–3 per day. A 2002 study revealed that less than 1% of children graduate from high school (5% from middle school) as they are forced to leave school at a young age to help support the family household, leaving 75% of the adult population illiterate. Chajul further suffers from common preventable health concerns, such as respiratory illness, intestinal disease, tuberculosis, malnutrition, and death during childbirth. Eighty percent of the Chajul population lives in poverty.

The Ixil Community is a name given to three neighbouring towns in the Quiché department in the western highlands of Guatemala. These towns are Santa María Nebaj, San Juan Cotzal, and San Gaspar Chajul. The area's population is predominantly of Ixil descent. When viewed on a map, the three Ixil towns appear to form a triangle, because of this, the Guatemalan military used the term Ixil Triangle when planning its campaigns in this region. Although the term "Ixil Triangle" has been used in some popular handbooks., most people in the region, as well as scholars and indigenous rights activists, avoid using this term as it reproduces the military "gaze", and instead prefer "Ixil region" or "Ixil community."