After the counterrevolution of 1954, the Guatemalan government established the Council for Economic Planning and started using free-market strategies, advised by the World Bank and the International Cooperation Administration (ICA) of United States government.
 CNPE and ICA created the Directorate General of Land Affairs (DGAA) which was responsible for dismantling and negating the effects of Decree 900 of Agragia Government Reform created by Jacobo Árbenz.
 In 1959,  Decree 1286 was passed into law and created the National Development Corporation and Economic Development of Petén (FYDEP), an agency of the Presidency of the Republic, responsible for colonization in the department of Petén.
 In practice, however, FYDEP was directed by the military and was an agency of the Ministry of Defense,  while in parallel DGAA handled the geographical strip bordering on the departmental boundary of Petén and the borders of Belize, Honduras and Mexico and which eventually became the Northern Transversal Strip.

The first settler project in the FTN was in Sebol-Chinajá in Alta Verapaz.
Sebol, then regarded as a strategic point and route through Cancuén River, which communicated with Petén through the Usumacinta River on the border with Mexico.
The only road that existed was a dirt one built by President Lázaro Chacón in 1928.
 In 1958, during the government of General Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) financed infrastructure projects in Sebol.
In 1960, then-Army captain Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia inherited Saquixquib and Punta de Boloncó farms in northeastern Sebol.
 In 1963 he bought the farm "San Fernando" El Palmar de Sejux and finally bought the "Sepur" farm near San Fernando.
 During those years, Lucas was in the Guatemalan legislature and lobbied in Congress to boost investment in that area of the country.

In those years, the importance of the region was in livestock, exploitation of precious export wood and archaeological wealth.
 Timber contracts were granted to multinational companies such as Murphy Pacific Corporation from California, which invested US$30 million for the colonization of southern Petén and Alta Verapaz, and formed the North Impulsadora Company.
Colonization of the area was made a process by which inhospitable areas of the FTN  were granted to native peasants.

In 1962, the DGAA became the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INTA), by Decree 1551 which created the law of Agrarian Transformation.
 In 1964, 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 Society of the Sacred Heart began the first process of colonization along with INTA, carrying settlers from Huehuetenango to the Ixcán sector in Quiché.

The Northern Transversal Strip was officially created during the government of General Carlos Arana Osorio in 1970, by Decree 60-70 of the Congress, for agricultural development.
After the counterrevolution of 1954, the Guatemalan government established the Council for Economic Planning and started using free-market strategies, advised by the World Bank and the International Cooperation Administration (ICA) of United States government.  CNPE and ICA created the Directorate General of Land Affairs (DGAA) which was responsible for dismantling and negating the effects of Decree 900 of Agragia Government Reform created by Jacobo Árbenz.  In 1959,  Decree 1286 was passed into law and created the National Development Corporation and Economic Development of Petén (FYDEP), an agency of the Presidency of the Republic, responsible for colonization in the department of Petén.  In practice, however, FYDEP was directed by the military and was an agency of the Ministry of Defense,  while in parallel DGAA handled the geographical strip bordering on the departmental boundary of Petén and the borders of Belize, Honduras and Mexico and which eventually became the Northern Transversal Strip.
The first settler project in the FTN was in Sebol-Chinajá in Alta Verapaz. Sebol, then regarded as a strategic point and route through Cancuén River, which communicated with Petén through the Usumacinta River on the border with Mexico. The only road that existed was a dirt one built by President Lázaro Chacón in 1928.  In 1958, during the government of General Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) financed infrastructure projects in Sebol. In 1960, then-Army captain Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia inherited Saquixquib and Punta de Boloncó farms in northeastern Sebol.  In 1963 he bought the farm "San Fernando" El Palmar de Sejux and finally bought the "Sepur" farm near San Fernando.  During those years, Lucas was in the Guatemalan legislature and lobbied in Congress to boost investment in that area of the country.
In those years, the importance of the region was in livestock, exploitation of precious export wood and archaeological wealth.  Timber contracts were granted to multinational companies such as Murphy Pacific Corporation from California, which invested US$30 million for the colonization of southern Petén and Alta Verapaz, and formed the North Impulsadora Company. Colonization of the area was made a process by which inhospitable areas of the FTN  were granted to native peasants.
In 1962, the DGAA became the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INTA), by Decree 1551 which created the law of Agrarian Transformation.  In 1964, 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 Society of the Sacred Heart began the first process of colonization along with INTA, carrying settlers from Huehuetenango to the Ixcán sector in Quiché.
The Northern Transversal Strip was officially created during the government of General Carlos Arana Osorio in 1970, by Decree 60-70 of the Congress, for agricultural development.
Franja Transversal del Norte