U.S. May Renew Military Aid to Guatemala

Mar 24, 3:36 AM EST

U.S. May Renew Military Aid to Guatemala

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
Associated Press Writer

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) -- The United States is considering stepping up military aid to Guatemala, a decade after it cut it off arms assistance to the Central American nation due to human rights abuses.

Since the mid-1990s, the U.S. government has held up $3.2 million in military aid because of abuses that took place during Guatemala's decades-long civil war. It has provided a relative pittance in recent years, with $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 possible lifting of sanctions.

Still, the amount of money is less than the millions provided overtly and by the CIA to support repressive right-wing regimes in their wars against leftist guerillas. At least 120,000 people disappeared in Guatemala before a peace was signed in 1996, 36 years after the war began.
(snp/...)

http://staging.hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/RUMSFELD?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-03-24-03-36-49