Word: guarda
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...sure exactly how many men, women and children have been shot, stabbed or beaten to death since the villages of San Simón (pop. 900) and El Guarda (pop. 600) declared war on each other, but the death toll is greater than the present population of either village. So deep-rooted has been the hatred between the two communities (64 miles northwest of Mexico City) that they continued their private war even while the Revolution raged around them...
...started in 1891, when San Simón purchased 350 acres of government land that El Guarda was squatting on. Outraged, the El Guardians hastily plowed a big furrow around "their" property, challenged the San Simonites to cross. The men of San Simón accepted the challenge. On bloody raids they smashed and burned, attacked El Guardians. Naturally, the El Guardians retaliated in kind. Once, after a San Simon boy trespassed in El Guarda and was spanked, the resultant raids and counter-raids of vengeance wiped out four complete families in one afternoon...
...been through the years; last year alone the feud took 40 lives. Recently, however, Mexico State Governor Salvador Sánches Colin proposed a solution: the state will pay San Simón 50,000 pesos for the 350 acres and cede the land to El Guarda. With a sigh, the elders of both villages agreed...
...Guadalupe, and the bell begins tolling. One by one José brings in the other bells, not just the eight played on ordinary days, but special bells like San Pedro, San Antonio. Then he silences them, each in turn, until only Santo Angel de la Guarda, sweetest-toned of all, tolls softly, a sign that down below in the cathedral the sermon is being preached. At the Gloria, he swings up his arms and all 18 bells peal out. José, the bellringer, stands on tiptoes, his fists thrust toward the sky, pure ecstasy on his face...