Given Ríos Montt's staunch anticommunism and ties to the United States, the
Reagan administration continued to support the general and his regime, paying a visit to
Guatemala City in December 1982.
[22] During a meeting with Ríos Montt on December 4, Reagan declared: "President Ríos Montt is a man of great personal integrity and commitment. ... I know he wants to improve the quality of life for all Guatemalans and to promote social justice."
[23][24]
President Ronald Reagan claimed Guatemala's human rights conditions were improving and used this to justify several major shipments of military hardware to Ríos Montt; $4 million in helicopter spare parts and $6.3 million in additional military supplies in 1982 and 1983 respectively. The decision was taken in spite of records concerning human rights violations, by-passing the approval from
Congress.
[25][26][27][28][29] Meanwhile, a then-secret 1983 CIA cable noted a rise in "suspect right-wing violence" and an increasing number of bodies "appearing in ditches and gullies."
[30] In turn, Guatemala was eager to resurrect the
Central American Defense Council, defunct since 1969, to join forces with the right-wing governments of
El Salvador and
Honduras in retaliations against the leftist
Sandinista government of
Nicaragua.