Without consulting the civilian members of the junta, the US had been giving direct aid to the military. The latest waves of killings hadn’t dissuaded Washington. American money went toward gas masks, bulletproof vests, and other supplies, which the US president rationalized as forms of “nonlethal aid.” Romero wanted to correct Carter’s misapprehension. Now the security forces were simply better equipped and “even more violent in repressing the people,” he said,
