Editing El Norte (film) (section)

=== ''Arturo Xuncax'' ===
The first part takes place in a small rural Guatemalan village called San Pedro and introduces the Xuncax family, a group of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous]] [[Maya peoples|Maya]]ns. Arturo is a coffee picker and his wife a homemaker. Arturo explains his worldview to his son Enrique and how the ''indio'' fares in Guatemalan life, noting that, "to the rich, the peasant is just a pair of strong arms".<ref name="efilmcritic">[http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=4474 Review: ''El Norte''], efilmcritic.com, February 17, 2003. Accessed: July 27, 2013.</ref> Arturo and his family then discuss the possibility of going to the United States where "all the people, even the poor, have their own cars".

Because of his attempts to form a labor union among the workers, Arturo and the other organizers are attacked and murdered by government troops when a co-worker is bribed to betray them—Arturo's severed head is seen hanging from a tree.<ref name="popmatters">.[http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/norte/ Rathke, Renee Scolaro]. ''Pop Matters'', film review, "Same Old New World", undated. Accessed: April 21, 2007.</ref> When Enrique attempts to climb the tree that displays his father's head, a soldier attacks him. Enrique fights back and kills the attacker, then escapes with his sister Rosa and hides in a safe house until morning. Enrique and Rosa thus escape capture, only to learn that many of their fellow villagers have been rounded up by soldiers. The children's mother too "disappears": abducted by soldiers. So, using money given to them by their godmother, Enrique and Rosa decide to flee Guatemala, the land of their birth, and head north.