Guatemala received a shipment of weapons and military equipment from the United States on Sept. 21, the first in a series of commercial exchanges set to total $5 million. Weapons transfers to the country had been formally frozen since the administration of President Jimmy Carter restricted arms sales in 1977 due to the Guatemalan military's record of human rights abuses during the country's civil war. The ban was lifted in March, after months of deepening security ties between the two countries.

President Bernardo Arévalo was quick to differentiate the country's current military forces from their predecessors. However, this was not the first delivery of military equipment since 1977. The flow of war material to the country’s armed forces resumed after Ronald Reagan partially lifted the ban in 1983 and provided spare parts to the Guatemalan government, chiefly for aircraft in the counter-insurgency campaign, despite having information about the ongoing genocide of Mayan communities.

From NACLA Update, Sept. 25