Santo Tomás de Castilla, also known as Matías de Gálvez is a port city in the Izabal Department, Guatemala. It is located at around . It lies at Amatique Bay off the Gulf of Honduras and is administratively a part of Puerto Barrios.
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Santo Tomás was settled originally by Belgians in the 19th century.[1]. Many of the Belgians who original settled there died of yellow fever and malaria. In the 1960s there was a Belgian cemetery near Matias de Gálvez, where most of these early settlers were buried.
In the early 1960s the port became the primary base for the new Guatemalan Navy. Admiral Manuel Sosa Avila, of the Navy of Guatemala was the first port commander for the newly founded Navy, which consisted of a frigate and two fast attack boats. The fast attack boats were donated to Guatemala by the United States. The frigate was purchased by the government of Guatemala in Sweden. The purchase was conducted by Ian Moon, and Irishman who was the son-in-law of the then President of Guatemala Idigoras Fuentes. The frigate was delivered to Guatemala by a Swedish crew. Eventually, the frigate was scuttled by the Guatemalan Navy near Puerto Barrios, in shallow water, where the ship's structure can still be seen there today by ships passing by. The frigate was scuttled by Francisco Sigui Lira, an officer of the Guatemalan Navy. There is one highway connecting the port with Guatemala City, and one railroad, which was originally built by the Banana Fruit Company. The railroad was not operational for many years due to lack of funds for maintenance. It briefly operated again in 2006 with American financing but conflicts with its administration forced the American capital investors to abandon the project.
The seaport of the city was built in 1976, after an earthquake had severely damaged the port of Puerto Barrios. Today it is among the busiest in Central America and currently expanding.[2] The port is located next to a free trade zone, the Zona de Libre Industria y Comercio Santo Tomás de Castilla, called Zolic. The port currently employs 2,100 workers. In 2004, 4.56 million tons of trading goods went through the port from 1,372 ships.[3]
In 2004, Santo Tomás de Castilla started receiving cruise ships. The cruise ship terminal is a tremendous boost for the Guatemalan tourism industry. Four cruise ships a month, carrying 1,500 passengers each make a stop here.[4] Cruise ship passengers visit Guatemala mostly for its Maya culture, spread throughout the country. Thus, Puerto Barrios Airport is currently being refurbished to carry ship passengers for day trips to Tikal or other places in Guatemala in the near future. Nearby attractions include Rio Dulce, Lake Izabal, the towns of Puerto Barrios, Livingston and San Felipe Castle, and the Mayan ruins of Quirigua.