i Patrick W. Staib Anthropology This dissertation is approved, and it ...

houses and additional farmland, but the main source of income, the 100 manzanas that
they collectively farm, has been under dispute for several years.
Varela helped to legitimate the cooperative’s land claim. However, in 1998
relatives of the Gurdian family reappeared with documents indicating their ownership of
the land. Raúl and Héctor Gomez (related to the Gurdians) were the principal actors in
the attempted armed takeover of this land. In 1998, they occupied the land and the co-op
sought legal recourse to kick them off. They would leave and then return a few weeks
later. Again, the coop had to summon the police to eject them. This reached a boiling
point when one of the occupiers was killed and sixteen co-op members were arrested and
accused of murder.
Between 1998 and 2004 the co-op worked its land collectively and obtained
financing through the UCA and Atlantic S.A. They worked hard to pay off their existing
debts to banks in order to defend their title to the land. According to Filimón, Amparo
Varela was indemnified twice for the land, once during the Chamorro government and
again during Alemán’s. In 2004, the relatives of the Gurdians, who had previously sold to
the Varelas, appeared with a court order to sequester the harvest from the farm. At that
point, La Pedro put a lawyer on the case. Prior to the sequestering the land was openly
theirs to work. Since 2004 they have been forbidden to set foot on the property. The
affiliates and relatives of the Gurdians had placed guards who would shoot their rifles
into the air to intimidate the co-op members. La Pedro had to complain to the police to
have the harassing gunshots stopped. Cándido admits that he has a registered pistol. The
police visit him to check if he has shot the gun, and they count his ammunition.
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