yum -y install texlive
was not enough for my centos distro to get the latex command.
This site https://gist.github.com/melvincabatuan/350f86611bc012a5c1c6 contains additional packages. In particular:
yum -y install texlive texlive-latex texlive-xetex
was enough but the author also points out these as well:
yum -y install texlive-collection-latex
yum -y install texlive-collection-latexrecommended
yum -y install texlive-xetex-def
yum -y install texlive-collection-xetex
Only if needed:
yum -y install texlive-collection-latexextra