However well they are policed, major protests reinforce the impression of indifferent elites, repression of debate, overreaction to dissent, injustice and unaccountable power.
Some scholars argue that the concentration of water within the urban core of these sites provided a centralized source of political authority for Maya elites based largely on controlled water access.
They would have local people, sort of higher class and local elites bid for the right to collect local taxes, and so the Romans would take the highest bid.