The Other Americans: U.S. Suspends Military Aid to Guatemalan Police Following Misuse of Jeeps

“It was an abuse on the part of the authorities. In no circumstance should the Jeeps be used for intimidation.”

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The United States Department of Defense announced on March 14 that is was partially suspending training and military aid to Guatemalan police following the misuse of military J8 Jeeps donated to the country for border security and anti-narcotic operations.

“Guatemala’s government is an ally and a partner in U.S. security efforts in the region, but the repeated misuse of military vehicles provided by the United States has prompted a review of support for security cooperation programs,” a U.S. Embassy spokesman told Reuters.

On August 31, 2018, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales deployed the J8 Jeeps on patrols through Guatemala City just as he was announcing he would not be renewing the mandate for the United Nations backed anti-corruption body, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, commonly known as CICIG.

President Morales deployed heavily armed Jeeps on intimidation patrols through Guatemala City just as he was announcing he would not be renewing the mandate for anti-corruption body CICIG.

Morales made the announcement in front of nearly sixty military and police officials, which Martín Rodríguez Pellecer, a Guatemalan journalist, points out in his op-ed for the New York Times reflects the “style” of to the dark history of dictatorship of Efraín Ríos Montt between 1982-1983.

The armored Jeeps, carrying heavy machine guns, drove past the CICIG offices and embassies in what was widely seen as acts of intimidation—especially against CICIG, which was investigating the president as well as his son and brother.

This use of the Jeeps, outside of the U.S.-backed border task forces, violated the agreements between the countries for aid, experts say.

“[The suspension of aid] was a direct message to the Ministry of the Interior, not to the army,” Francisco Jiménez, Guatemala’s former Ministry of the Interior and current analyst with Centro de Investigaciones Económicas Nacionales, tells The Progressive. “It was the decision of the Ministry of the Interior in 2018 to send the Jeeps to the streets.”

According to Francisco Rivas, the former minister of the interior in the Morales administration who resigned in 2018, the Jeeps were specifically meant for border security and fighting drug trafficking, human trafficking, and contraband.

“It was an abuse on the part of the authorities,” Rivas tells The Progressive. “In no circumstance should the Jeeps be used for intimidation.”

The Guatemalan government tried to justify the deployment of the Jeeps as part of an operation against gangs, including Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (popularly known as MS-13), but Rivas says that, as far as he knows, “these groups never have operated in these areas.”

In the United States, the decision to suspend military aid has been met by support from Congressional Democrats, who have vocally supported the efforts of the CICIG.

“The United States should have suspended military assistance to Guatemala immediately, but better late than never,” Representative Norma Torres, Democrat of California, tells The Progressive.

The suspension of military aid comes after the Trump Administration approved the donation of thirty-eight new J8 Jeeps to the Guatemalan government for anti-drug operations, according to The Washington Post. Democrats were “disturbed” to learn about the transfer of new Jeeps, according to a letter to Secretary of State Pompeo obtained by the Post.

The Guatemalan Ministry of Defense had no comment on the suspension of military aid.

While some restrictions on military aid have remained in place since the Carter Administration first banned military aid to Guatemala following rampant human rights violations in 1977, the United States has continued to provide military equipment and training for border security operations. It donated nearly 150 J8 Jeeps to the Guatemalan police and military, along with equipment and training, to support newly formed “Inter-Agency Task Forces” policing the country’s borders.

“The task forces are positioned in strategic positions where organized crime has had a strong presence,” Rivas told The Progressive.

Following the announcement of the suspension of military aid, the Guatemalan government began to concentrate all of the J8s at the Guatemalan air force base next to the international airport. Many of the J8s arrived damaged to the base.

On March 21, the J8s returned to operations, with the Guatemalan government justifying the concentration was an “exercise.”

U.S. Congressional Democrats including the Guatemalan-born Torres are demanding the return of the Jeeps. “I call on them to do so without delay,” she says.

Abuse of U.S. military aid has also occurred in neighboring Honduras, according to an investigation by the Miami Herald, which found that U.S. weapons sold to the Honduran army were being used by military police, activity the United States says it does not support.

The CICIG has long been a target of the Morales administration. In December 2018, Morales attempted to expel the anti-corruption body, drawing calls to sanction Guatemalan officials who have participated in attacks on the CICIG and those accused of corruption.

On March 25, the State Department barred former Supreme Court Judge, Blanca Aída Stalling Dávila, from entering the United States over accusations of corruption. According to the U.S. Embassy’s press statement, the State Department has revoked visas of Guatemalans accused of crimes such as corruption or drug trafficking since the beginning of 2019.

The State Department’s 2018 Human Right Report expresses concern with the Guatemalan government’s attacks on CICIG, stating that impunity remains a widespread problem. The White House has remained silent, although the U.S. embassy in Guatemala has voiced its own concern with the situation. The message from the State Department has remained ambiguous.

Representative Torres has proposed the Guatemala Rule of Law Accountability Act, or H.R. 7314, which would suspend the visas of Guatemalan officials accused of corruption, money laundering, and the misuse of U.S. military aid.

“We will keep up the pressure until we see positive change,” Representative Torres tells The Progressive. “This should be a priority, not just for Congressional Democrats, but for all Americans who want to address the root causes of migration from Central America.”