Guatemala City, Guatemala - The US on Monday delivered military equipment to Guatemala for the first time in nearly 50 years, ending an arms embargo imposed over human rights abuses.

President Bernardo Arévalo said Guatemala is to receive weapons and equipment worth around $5 million.

The equipment is intended to help fight drug cartels and protect the population, according to the government.

The first shipment includes M4 rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, and equipment for special operations at night, local media reported.

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US arms deliveries to Guatemala were suspended in 1977 during the country's internal conflict between state security forces, left-wing guerrilla groups, and right-wing paramilitaries.

At least 200,000 people – most of them Indigenous – were killed during the civil war, which lasted from 1960 to 1996.

Soldiers were responsible for numerous massacres as well as cases of sexual violence during the conflict.

In 1954, the US backed a coup to oust Guatemala's democratically elected President Jacobo Árbenz, who had instituted reforms to benefit impoverished Indigenous communities – in opposition to US corporate interests.

The US was heavily involved in propping up successive right-wing regimes in Guatemala, providing military and diplomatic support, as well as counterinsurgency advisors, while helping to cover up widespread abuses.