Hormigueros

 city, village, municipality

Hormigueros is a municipality of Puerto Rico located in the western region of the island, northeast of Cabo Rojo; northwest of San Germán; and south of Mayagüez. Hormigueros is spread over 5 wards and Hormigueros Pueblo (The downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is part of the Mayagüez Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The region of what is now Hormigueros belonged to the Guaynia region, located on the southernwest portion of Puerto Rico. Archaeological findings have established that there were tribes already settled in the region around 820 BC.

During the Spanish colonization at the beginning of the 16th century, it is possible that some of them settled in the area. A coffin found underground a basilica was tested in laboratories and was dated prior to 1600. Some historians also mentioned the Horomico river as one of the main sources of gold during the rush of the era. In 1692, the town of Hormigueros was first established, first as a village of San Germán.

From 1863 to 1873, residents of the area started petitioning for the area to be declared an independent town. In 1874, it was finally granted independence from San Germán.

On 2005, Hormigueros gained notoriety when Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, leader of clandestine paramilitary group Los Macheteros was shot and killed in his house on the outskirts of Hormigueros. Ojeda Ríos had been living clandestinely for more than 20 years after escaping from the law.