  Lepton number violation and its relation to neutrino masses is investigated
in several versions of the $SU(3)_c\otimes SU(3)_L\otimes U(1)_x$ model.
Spontaneous and explicit violation and conservation of the lepton number are
considered. In one of the models (the so-called economical one), the lepton
number is spontaneously violated and it is found that the would be Majoron is
not present because it is gauged away, poviding in this way the longitudinal
polarization component to a now massive gauge field.
