This repository may contain outdated, harmful, or triggering terms and/or content
Description:
A security officer in plainclothes and armed with a Galil assault rifle, right, searches a civilian in rural Huehuetenango, Guatemala, September 1, 1982. United States involvement in Guatemala began in 1954, when fears of communist influence on President Jacobo Árbenz led to a CIA-engineered coup d'état to install a military regime. In the 36-year civil war that followed, the United States, along with Israel and Argentina, consistently provided military aid and support for counterinsurgency campaigns despite Guatemala's abysmal human rights record.