peoples, human rights, and undocumented workers, leading them to reevaluate their own status.

While some young Maya and Ladino men establish friendships that normally would not have

been possible at home, some older Ladino dislike their lost status, even though they may use

these new Maya-Ladino relationships to build social capital. These Ladino migrants (both men

and women) are more likely to return to Pinula in order to restore their Guatemalan-born power

and status.

 Transnational migration also creates formalized relationships between Maya and Ladinos

in both the sending and receiving communities, illustrating both transformations in ethnic

relations abroad and resistance to change at home. In Pinula, endogamy within the ethnic group

is the rule, but in the United States endogamy translates into community endogamy crossing

ethnic lines. Since Pinulteca women are so rare in the United States, any arriving female is seen

as a potential mate and there is intense competition among young single men. In most cases, the

Ladino male with the "best" last name succeeds, pairing lower-class Ladino and Maya women

with upper-class Ladino men. Although these illicit relationships have always existed in Pinula

society, the United States provides the forum in which these relationships can be formalized.

Even more shocking to the communities (across both borders) are the marriages between return

migrant Maya men and lower-class Ladina women. These types of relationships had rarely been

documented; their existence is a tribute to the power of economic and social mobility created by

transnational migration.

 Despite these transformations in ethnic relations, negative community reaction to inter-

ethnic relationships demonstrates Ladino resistance to change, an obvious struggle from the

group wishing to maintain status. For many, inter-ethnic marriages are seen as a result of

witchcraft and sorcery. For others, inter-ethnic marriages are another example of the traditional