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because \u2018they have are responsible for agricultural production\u2019. Others said that they contribute to the development of the country through their \u2018arduous work and intelligence in all the areas\u2019 of the social and economic life of the country. Although many \u2018do not have education they work hard\u2019, and \u2018they are a productive people\u2019. One informant affirmed that \u2018they are better organized and they are entering in the national sphere\u2019. Another one commented that the \u2018indigenous people are doing better than many ladinos\u2019.\u000ATwo lay people made positive comments about Rigoberta Mench\u00FA, the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner, as a good example of how to make a contribution to the country.138 Other informants mentioned the indigenous town of Almolonga to illustrate the same idea. This western town of the Quiche ethnic group has been promoted as \u2018miracle city\u2019 within the Neo-Pentecostal world. They exhibit this town as a sample of spiritual, social and economic transformation for the nations. According to Winger this population experienced a dramatic change as a result of a religious revival in the 1980s (1998: 29-240). People left a series of vices, customs, habits and pagan beliefs. Their conversion brought a new \u2018work ethic\u2019 that produced economic renovation and community transformation. The studies of Amy Sherman (1997) and Virginia Garrard-Burnett (2007) in San Antonio Aguas Calientes, San Pedro la Laguna, Quiche and Almolonga, show this same result, but they put the values of religious conversion alongside the contribution of the culture and the indigenous community.\u000Ab. Prejudices\u000AA smaller group thought differently from the rest. Their perspective reflects certain prejudices that prevail in the general context of Guatemalan society. They expressed that\u000A138 During the last decade the indigenous people have entered some new spaces. Some have occupied key seats in government and other leadership positions within the Guatemalan society. This advancement has come through their initiative as well as a concession of the system. Above all, the peace treaty signed in 1996, and the recognition of the Nobel Peace prize for Rigoberta Menchu Tum. Women like Rosalina Tuyuc are leading the committee for widows CONOVIGUA, challenged the army with their marches through the streets of the Capital asking for explanations with regard to the way that their husbands disappeared and in their struggle for the indigenous woman. The Ministers of Education and Culture in the FRG government were occupied by indigenous people from the Quiche and Cakchiquel ethnic groups. In the same way there are several indigenous deputies sitting in Congress.\u000A 293\u000A


































































































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