The Guatemalan government officially apologised Thursday to the family of ex-president Jacobo Arbenz, who was ousted 57 years ago in a CIA-backed coup in one of the opening acts of the Cold War. "As head of state, as constitutional president of the republic and as the military's commander in chief, I hereby wish to request the forgiveness of the Arbenz Vilanova family for this great crime," President Alvaro Colom said during a ceremony at the former government headquarters.
"It was above all a crime against him, his wife, his family, but also a historic crime for Guatemala. This day changed Guatemala and we still haven't recovered," he said, speaking before Jacobo Arbenz Vilanova, the only surviving son of the former president. Arbenz led a popularly elected government that ran afoul of Washington with reforms counter to the interests of the United Fruit Company, an American multinational company with extensive holdings in Guatemala. He was overthrown on June 27, 1954 in an invasion led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas that was engineered by the CIA.
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