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The majority of Central American Indigenous peoples retain their own cultural practices, their own native languages and internal political systems and have maintained their distinct group identity despite Spanish and British colonization of their territories and subsequent formation of eight nation-states by Spanish and British descendants. None of the Central American states recognize the distinct political character, nor do the individual states recognize the right of indigenous peoples to participate in the state governments as distinct political groups. The indigenous populations of Mexico and Central America are treated as peasants at the bottom of the general economic system, though in reality indigenous peoples are forced, by virtue of their Indian lineage, to live as the poorest of the poor. Thus forced off of their rich lands into less productive lands, indigenous populations in Central America and Mexico now occupy the last remaining parts of their original homelands. The current violence in Central America reflects a resurgence of rivalries among non-indigenous groups seeking to hold or gain the newly found wealth in the remaining indigenous territories.