20 Quetzales

The 20 Quetzal denomination has been a consistent fixture in Guatemala's banknote series since the mid-twentieth century, but by 2008 the series had settled into a stable production relationship with Oberthur Fiduciaire at their Chantepie facility — one of France's principal security printing operations, handling sovereign currency for dozens of states across Latin America and Africa simultaneously.

Security on this issue is relatively modest for the period: watermark and thread only, without the optical features increasingly common on contemporaneous Latin American issues. Guatemala was slower than several regional neighbors to adopt polymer substrates or more complex surface security, maintaining cotton paper through this generation of notes.