Cuautla is famous for its sulfur springs and Jose Maria Morelos Pavon one of Mexico's first leaders in the independence struggle, used Cuautla as a base, but the royalist army besieged the city from February 19 to May 2, 1812. Morelos and his army were forced to evacuate when their food gave out. A century later, Cuautla was a center of support for the revolutionary army of Emiliano Zapata. Now, every April 10, the Agrarian Reform Minister lays a wreath at Zapata's monument in Cuautla, quoting the revolutionary's principles of land reform.

Orientation

Cuautla spreads north to south roughly parallel to the Rio Cuautla. The main avenue into town, Avenida Insurgentes, joins the town's two main plazas the Plaza Fuerte de Galeana, more commonly known as the Alameda, and the zocalo and changes its name along the way to Batalla 19 de Febrero, then to Galeana, Los Bravos, Guerrero and Ordiera.

The zocalo has arcades with restaurants on the northern side, a church on the east, the Palacio Municipal on the west and the Hotel Colon on the south. Bus lines have separate terminals in the blocks east of the plaza.