Қару-жарақ контрабандасы және АҚШ-тың араласуы

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MS Höegh Trader (1933–36) Another deception was the falsification of the ship's bill of lading which declared that the cargo was composed entirely of items such as shovels, nails, machine tools, laboratory glass, etc., rather than the estimated 2,000 tons of weaponry and munitions that were its principal components. Alfhem delivered 2,000 tons of arms and ammunition, more than all Central America had received in the previous 30 years. According to the 1954 Time magazine account, the weapons allegedly worth $10 million, were thought to be from Czechoslovakia's famous Škoda munitions works and were believed to be primarily rifles, automatic arms, mortars and light artillery. Described in the ship's manifest as "steel rods, optical glass and laboratory supplies", the weapons were packed in 15,000 cases. Under the supervision of the country's Defense Minister, the weapons were unloaded from Alfhem and loaded onto freight cars on the US controlled International Railways of Central America (IRCA) for shipment to the capital 197 mile (317 km) away. Protected by armed guards, the weapons made their way to their destination.

Anti government rebels tried to stop the arms shipment by dynamiting a railway trestle just as the munitions train crossed. However, a downpour of rain drenched the fuses and the dynamite did not detonate as planned. A gun battle followed in which one government soldier and one rebel were killed. The CIA's chief of clandestine operations, Frank Wisner, was annoyed that the U. S. Navy failed to intercept Alfhem – that is, "until he realized that the shipment of weaponry was just the excuse the United States needed to intervene." On 24 May the US Navy's Caribbean Sea Frontier launched Operation HARDROCK BAKER: air and sea patrols in the Gulf of Honduras, ostensibly "to protect Honduras from invasion and to control arms shipments to Guatemala." The US "began airlifting arms to Nicaragua and Honduras, to restore the balance of power." US fear of further arms shipments to Guatemala remained high, and to disastrous effect. On the morning of 27 June 1954 a CIA operated P 38M Lightning flying over Puerto San José destroyed the British cargo ship with napalm bombs, because the CIA officer in local command of the insurgent "Liberation Air Force" believed she was unloading weapons. In fact Springfjord was loading cotton and coffee for the US shipping company Grace Line. The CIA mistake led to a three way compensation dispute between the UK, Guatemala and the US that was still unresolved in 1967.