What do you do with a Gringo after you grab him?

My wife already wrote about this HERE, but I'll provide my perspective. Last weekend (the weekend before Holy Week) there was a town meeting and I came up again as a topic. Somebody asked if I was was still coming in the village (they had seen me several times) and the town council acted as if that was an impossibility. Of course I wouldn't come back to get my things, even though I asked this specifically last September and was told I could come and go as long as I didn't hold services.

The town council didn't want to be held responsible, and is also in the habit of just telling people what they want to hear, so they said that they couldn't form a party and grab me, but the town should take its own responsibility and grab me the next time I came in. There was also talk of closing the gates so that I couldn't come in. Sounds like a lot of effort just to keep out a missionary right?

What I can't figure out is: What do they do next? I have a hard time believing that anybody would do something without their beer muscles (except for the crazy druggie waving his pistol...but he's not even who they were talking to). I know that mobs do horrific things in Guatemala, but this is so personal and I know these people so well that I find their ignorance humorous. Just to back myself up on this, I'll share the response I got today with a Mennonite friend who was born and grew up here. I told him what they said about grabbing me and he responded with a smile on his face, "You should go in there."

I want to be careful here to not sound like I am taking this lightly. It is a serious situation and could be dangerous without the proper precautions, but the part of me that does not care about my family or personal well being would very much like to test the waters. I would like to go talk to the president of the town council again or even show up during one of the town meetings just to see people's reactions. Fortunately, reason sets in and I realize that the person who called to give me the news was one of these guerrillas (now a new man with a new life) and only called to warn me not to go in. I'll take his advice seriously. These are ex-guerrillas who preferred to be called "guerrillas living in peace time" and still have all of their weapons after all.

I'll end with this conversation I had with New Horizon President Limas last September:

Limas: I'm sorry Yimi, but even if I wanted to I can't help you or change what was decided. The people made the decision.

Yimi: But you are the leader of the town. You have to have some control.

Limas: We just have to do what the people want. This is a Democracy. They decide and we do it. Do you understand?

Yimi: Yes, I understand. You are ruled by the mob.

Limas: Yes, exactly. The mob rules.

Not exactly the definition of Democracy, is it?