So we've been kicked out of New Horizon before, but that was a long time ago so I'll just write about how we got kicked out this time. For those of you who know the story, here's a refresher so that I can give you the juicy new details in a following post.
So you should know that New Horizon is a community of ex-guerrillas (about 500 people) that stated as one of their by-laws that no churches (besides the token Catholic Church) were allowed to exist within the community. When we arrived and inquired about attendance at the Catholic Church we were told that the priest came to the village every three weeks and 4-5 people attended. We were granted permission by the town council (and the next one after that) to hold Bible Studies in the town. Since that time a group of people in the village have vehemently fought to make us leave. There have been many lies spread, but the only time somebody would talk to me directly and tell me they wanted me to leave was when they were so drunk they could barely stand up.
Last September I came back to Petén after being gone a month to check on our house, dogs, etc. I needed to make sure that the system we had set up was working and could continue for an additional four months. My first day back I went to visit some people in New Horizon. As I was leaving I stopped at the store to say hello to the mayor. She pulled me aside to talk to me about Quincho, the guy staying at and guarding our house.
Quincho was accused of stealing a cell phone from a certain group of people from our town 10 minutes from New Horizon. In Guatemala, accused means absolutely guilty no matter what the facts are and deserving of death. Because of this, that group of people had come into the village several times looking for him to kill him. Over a cell phone. Yeah.
So the mayor was concerned that somebody innocent would be standing next to Quincho when this drive-by happened and would also get killed or injured. They were having a meeting the next day to inform the town so that people would know not to stand around Quincho. She assured me that I was not being discussed in the meeting (therefore didn't need to come) and they would not be kicking Quincho out, just giving out the information.
I told Beatrice (the mayor) that I thought I could find the people from whom the cell phone was stolen and work something out, and then Quincho would pay me back for the cell phone from what he was earning. I told her my belief that people should be held responsible for their actions (something these guerrillas never have been), but that the most important thing right now was to stop anybody from getting killed. She thought that was a good idea and thanked me.
So instead of spending the next day varnishing my cribs or fixing things around the house, I went in search of the people. I can't give you any more details than this to protect the innocent (mainly me) but everything was worked out. I arrived in New Horizon to give them the news and realized the meeting had just ended. I talked to several people there including the mayor and the president of the town council to let them know that nobody was going to die over this anymore and everybody was very nice.
It was not until later that I learned (because these hardened ex-guerrillas suddenly become tongue-tied chickens when the white fat gringo shows up) that not only had they kicked Quincho out, we were also prohibited from continuing our activities in the village (mainly Bible Studies.) The mayor accused me of treating Quincho with kindness and trying to cover up his crimes. This is obviously against the morals of the community (as stated in the letter I received) and therefore they had no choice but to ask us to leave.
I hope you can see the absurdity in all of this. Since we have been back I have learned that the rumors have degraded even further. Now the story is that I was the real mastermind behind the cell phone caper and an accomplice in the crime. From the States. Yeah.
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