In 1971 indigenous Q'eqchi' people from 24 villages in the Cancuén area, in southern Petén north of Chisec, were evicted by the Army, because it considered that the region was rich in oil.

In 1976, when ten president Kjell Laugerud García came to visit the Mayalán cooperative in Ixcán, Quiché -which was formed just 10 years before- said: "Mayalán is seated on top of the gold," hinting that the North Transversal Strip would no longer be used for agriculture and the cooperative movement, but rather by strategic exploitation of natural resources.

[3] After that presidential visit, the two oil companies conducted exploration in Xacbal, near Mayalán in Ixcán, where they drilled the "San Lucas" well with unsuccessful results.

These initial exploration, however, paved the way for future Ixcán and FTN oil experimentation, were also the main reason for building the dirt road that runs along the Strip.

[4] High Guatemalan government officers became large landowners and investors taking advantage of the peasant transfer policies, privileged insider information, expansion of public credit and major development projects; the Army entered the business world with the Bank of the Army, pension funds and others.

[5] In 1977, when he stepped down as defense minister to pursue his presidential campaign, general Fernando Romeo Lucas García also happened to hold the position of coordinator of the Northern Transversal Strip, whose main objective was to bring oil production and to facilitate oil exploitation of that vast land.

[6] During Lucas García government (1 July 1978 – 23 March 1982) the Army Engineers Battalion built the road stretch from Cadenas (Petén / Izabal) to Fray Bartolomé de las Casas.

[4] After the overthrow of Lucas García March 23, 1982, a military triumvirate came to power headed by General Efraín Ríos Montt, along with Horacio Maldonado Shaad colonels and Francisco Gordillo.

It was not Lucas Garcia, but the government itself; they gave lots on the banks of the Transversal del Norte, to get (farmers) out of land where there was oil.

As part of its strategy EGP agreed to perform acts to seek notoriety and to symbolize the establishment of "social justice" against the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the judicial and administrative organs of the State.

[10][a] On Saturday, 7 June 1975, José Luis Arenas was killed by unknowns when he was at his farm, "La Perla", to pay wage workers.

They spoke in Ixil language to the farmers, telling them that they were members of the Guerrilla Army of the Poor and had killed the "Tiger Ixcán."

The municipal government called for such a consultation on 2007-04-20, in which 90% of voters rejected all proposed hydroelectric projects and petroleum extraction in the region.