Article: U.S. Military Aid

U.S. Resumes Military Aid to Guatemala

By John J. Lumpkin, Associated Press Writer

Thursday March 24, 2005 5:31 PM

Guatemala City (AP) - The United States is releasing $3.2 million in military aid to the Central American nation of Guatemala, more than a decade after such aid was cut it off due to human rights abuses during the country's civil war.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced the lifting of the sanctions after meeting with Guatemalan President Oscar Berger Thursday. Since the mid-1990s, the United States has provided a relative pittance, with only $350,000 approved for tightly controlled purposes, such as maintaining U.S.-Guatemala contacts in 2005.

The Bush administration is proposing to ramp that up to $900,000 in 2006, in addition to the lifting of sanctions. The money is intended for a number of uses, including assisting in training and the modernization of Guatemala's armed forces.

Berger, appearing with Rumsfeld in a press conference in the Guatemalan capital, said the human rights abuses committed by the Guatemalan military are a thing of the past.

"The shadows that plagued our army have disappeared," Berger said through a translator.

Rumsfeld, saying Central America has reached a "magic moment," said he was satisfied Guatemala's military was developing toward a force that could assist in peacekeeping operations and cooperate with other militaries in Central America.

"I've been impressed by the reforms that have been undertaken in the armed forces," he said. "I know it is a difficult thing to do but it's been done with professionalism and transparency."

Still, the amount of money being provided to Guatemala is less than the millions provided overtly and by the CIA to support repressive right-wing regimes in their wars against leftist guerillas during the last half-century. In Guatemala, at least 120,000 people disappeared before a peace accord was signed in 1996, 36 years after the civil war began.

Under Berger's administration, the Guatemalan military has decreased in size from 27,000 to 15,000, and is transforming its forces for cooperative peacekeeping missions instead of internal counterguerilla warfare. Berger has also altered some of the legal code governing the military and changed the chain of command.

Guatemala has also contributed peacekeepers to the mission in Haiti. Rumsfeld has pushed for more security cooperation between Central American nations despite their history of squabbles and internal strife. Guatemalans have also taken part in several U.N. operations in Africa.

During the 1980s, overt U.S. military aid totaled about $30 million, less than that supplied to the governments of El Salvador and Honduras, which fought similar conflicts.

But the killing of an American innkeeper in 1990 and the subsequent cover-up forced the U.S. government to cut off that aid, though millions more kept flowing secretly from the CIA to Guatemala's military commanders until 1995.

Though the U.S. government has provided only a small amount of security money, some for counternarcotics assistance, to Guatemala, economic aid has exceeded $100 million a year.

Guatemalans have had continued problems with crime and drug-trafficking. According to the federal attorney general's office, violent crime killed 8,120 people in 2001 and 8,767 in 2002. Some estimates provided by U.S. officials suggest that 80 percent of cocaine intended for the United States passes through Guatemala or its territorial waters.

Earlier this month, President Berger signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States, prompting some protests in his country. At least one demonstrator was killed. The measure must still be ratified by the U.S. Congress.

The United States has reached agreements with El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Guatemala is the third nation to ratify it.

Posted by elcanche at March 24, 2005 03:12 PM