Mexican and Central American Armor

By Julio Montes
2001
Covering armored vehicles from Mexico to Panama.
Great study of the development and use armored
vehicles as well as some local designs.
Soft cover, 6 x 9 inches
Originally $19.95
165 pages, 240+ photos (8 pages in color)

Perhaps not as popular as Shermans, Tigers and Abrams as far as armor goes but nonetheless, the Central American region is ripe with armor—much of it unusual.
Countries covered include: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama. After the country chapters, there is an order of battle for five of the countries. This is followed by a chapter on the technical specifications for 12 of the vehicles—primarily on the locally produced or modified ones.

Belize and Cost Rica
Coverage starts with just one page each for Belize and Costa Rica. Armor in both countries was limited to British-operated vehicles in Belize and a handful of M113s and one (maybe) UR-416.

El Salvador
El Salvador coverage starts with early CV-33 delivered pre-WWII and M3 Stuarts after the war. However the main coverage picks up in the 1970s with the acquisition of German-made UR-416s along with a variety of trucks which were eventually armored.
Although the country ordered French-made AMX-13s there is no evidence they were ever delivered.  The only tracked deliveries made were a collection “Woodmaster” tractors—stripped down M114s. Although not of much use elsewhere, good use was made of the chassis and a variety of armored vehicles, including one fully amphibious were built.
The Dodge M37B truck was another vehicle that was used in large numbers with an indigenous armored body applied. Called the Cashuat, there were several configurations with a variety of armament packages.
Several other Jeep and trucks were also converted to either troop transport or weapons carriers.

Guatemala
The lead photo is of a Marmon-Herrington CTMS as a gate guardian, one of six that formed an early armored battalion. These followed subsequent M4 Shermans and M3 Stuarts in use. M8 armored cars were also acquired and served well for decades with a turret and armament replacement program considered as late as the mid-1990s.
In the early 1970s M113s and Cadillac Gage V100 armored cars were delivered by the U.S.
M41A1 Bulldogs were delivered in the early 1980s and replaced the Shermans in the tank units.
Israel was also a supplier to Guatemala sending Abir trucks and RBY reconnaissance vehicles.
Guatemala also used its experience to develop its own line of armored vehicles. The most successful was the Armadillo, but there were several other completed locally designed and built or modifications of existing vehicles that were built to prototype stage.

Honduras
A British influence with some of their inventory including Saladin armored cars and the Scorpion light tank.
The Israeli RBY also saw service including at least one mounting a 106 mm recoilless rifle. Besides some artillery pieces, U.S. deliveries seem limited to HMMWV for general utility work and as a 106 mm weapon platform.

Mexico
Another early user of Marmon-Herringtons, this time the CTL-3A, they also used U.S. WWII-era vehicles—some well into the 1990s including M2 half-tracks, M3 scout cars, M8 gun motor carriages, M8 armored cars and Shermans.
The country also had a very active manufacturing base that developed several programs for local production including the DN-series of armored cars (in at least seven marks and several variants including an 81 mm mortar and a production version with the turret off decommissioned M8 GMCs).
Various Mowag and French AMX, Panhard, U.S. and Belgian vehicles were also acquired in the more modern years. One interesting color photo shows a U.S.-built M35 truck with a 40 mm mounted in the cargo bed.

Nicaragua
After WWII various M4 Shermans, M2A1 and M3A1 half-tracks, and T17 Staghounds were put into service with the National Guard. These soldiered on through the civil war with some local armoring of trucks as a supplement to the armor in use. In the early 1980s, main battle tanks made their first appearance in the region with 20 T-54 followed by T-55M and additional armor in the form of BTR-60s, PT-76s, BRDM-2s, BTR-40s and BTR-152s. Other Russian-made support vehicles and artillery systems dominated the inventory.

Panama
Not a particularly heavy influence of armor, however, President Noriega did acquire a number of V150 and V-300 vehicles from Cadillac Gage. He also ordered a large number of Argentinean TAMs that were never delivered.