In the 1960s, the importance of the region known as Franja Transversal del Norte was in livestock, exploitation of precious export wood and archaeological wealth.

[2] In 1964, the National Institute for Agrarian Transformation (INTA) defined the geography of the FTN as the northern part of the departments of Huehuetenango, Quiché, Alta Verapaz and Izabal and that same year priests of the Maryknoll order and the Order of the Sacred Heart began the first process of colonization, along with INTA, carrying settlers from Huehuetenango to the Ixcán sector in Quiché.

[3] The Northern Transversal Strip was officially created during the government of General Carlos Arana Osorio in 1970, by Decree 60-70 in the Congress, for agricultural development.

[7] Boats run several times a day from Puerto Barrios, and twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays from Punta Gorda, Belize.

As of early 2014, foreign passengers arriving in Livingston still present their passports at the customs office, which is two blocks up the hill from the dock, on the left side of the street.

One is entirely free to walk right past the customs office and forego this formality; however, doing so may subject one to significant delays and possible fines when one leaves Guatemala at any land crossing, port, or airport.