The Carmelita-El Mirador circuit is run by the inhabitants of Carmelita, a traditional community settled in the heart of the Selva Maya since the early 1900s, driven by the extraction of sap from chicozapote, the main economic activity at that time.
From the last century until now, the inhabitants of Carmelita live in harmony with the forest. In 1997, the Government of Guatemala granted Carmelita the Community Forestry Concession, through which the community is responsible for the protection, management and conservation of an area of 530 km2 in which more than 97% of the natural forest is conserved.