Juan Antonio Sotillo Municipality
The Juan Antonio Sotillo Municipality is one of the 21 municipalities that makes up the eastern Venezuelan state of Anzoátegui and, according to the 2011 census by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality has a population of 244,728. The town of Puerto La Cruz is the shire town of the Juan Antonio Sotillo Municipality. The municipality is named for the nineteenth century Venezuelan military leader Juan Antonio Sotillo.
History
The history of Puerto La Cruz began when the Spanish conquerors arrived to Venezuela. In 1780, the Christian Mission of Pozuelos was founded, with natives being the majority of the population.On 9 April 1862, a group of 26 families from Margarita Island decided to settle in Pozuelos Bay.
The "Virgen del Amparo" and the "Santa Cruz" were adopted as the main religious identities of the town. On 8 November of every year since then is celebrated as the "Dia de la Virgen del Amparo" and 3 May as the "Dia de la Santa Cruz".
In 1868, the first Church was built and the name of the town was changed to Puerto de la Santa Cruz, but as the years passed people got used to calling it just "Puerto La Cruz".