The renewed attention from the government to the Indian rights issue has created feverish optimism among Indian communities. From this moment on, no Indian will walk with his or her head down,'' Gutierrez said. The dramatic economic and social contrasts between the haves and have nots in Guerrero state help explain the unrest in Rancho Nuevo. Guerrero is home to Acapulco, where Mexican and foreign tourists with silky tans heap their plates from buffets at five-star hotels while waiters rush to light their cigarettes. But it is also home to dozens of Mixteco villages like Rancho Nuevo, in the mountains 130 miles to the east.
Ragged children run up to approaching cars with delight because motorized vehicles are a rare sight.
When townspeople go to sleep, they enter their thatched shacks and lie down on bare cement floors, still wearing their clothes. About 100 people occupied the town hall from May to December to demand electricity, better roads and other services. Municipal president Armando Ramos said the Indians had at least 20 guns, albeit old and battered. They burned municipal records, leaving the hall charred inside, and walked off with office equipment and three government trucks, which they later returned. Undeterred by the lack of results from the town hall protest, the local Indians are stepping up their activities.