Mano Blanca , was a
Guatemalan right-wing, anti-communist
death squad, set up in 1966 to prevent
Julio César Méndez Montenegro from being inaugurated as the president of Guatemala. During the government of Méndez Montenegro, it evolved into a paramilitary unit of the Guatemalan armed forces, and was responsible for the murder and torture of thousands of people in rural Guatemala. The group received support from the Guatemalan army and government, as well as from the
United States. The group was officially known as the
Movimiento de Acción Nacionalista Organizado (English: Movement of Organized Nationalist Action) which gives the acronym "MANO," (Spanish: hand). The group was variously known by its full name, by MANO, or most popularly by
Mano Blanca, or "White Hand."