Small farmers in rural Guatemala have long worked for the enterprises of large landowners. When these enterprises go bankrupt they leave the farmers with unpaid salary, while other big creditors fight over the remains. The farmers (campesinos) also want their own settlement and set out to protest. With help of the workers union CGTG they also fight the landowners in court. When in this way they successfully obtain the first piece of land, the farmers enthusiastically and idealistically start to build their own new villages, the 'pueblos nuevos'.
—Ralf Verbeek