Editing Jacobo Árbenz (section)

==Guatemalan government apology==
In 1999, the Árbenz family went before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to demand an apology from the Guatemalan government for the 1954 coup which saw him ousted.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2011/10/22/world/americas/guatemala-arbenz/index.html|title=Apology reignites conversation about ousted Guatemala leader|publisher=CNN|date=24 October 2011|access-date=21 June 2021}}</ref> Following years of campaigning, the Árbenz Family took the Guatemalan Government to [[Inter-American Commission on Human Rights]] in Washington, D.C. It accepted the complaint in 2006, leading to five years of stop-and-start negotiations.{{sfn|Malkin|2011b}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2011/10/111019_guatemala_arbenz_perdon_2_cch.shtml|title=Guatemala: una disculpa que tardó 57 años|date=20 October 2011|publisher=[[BBC]]}}</ref> In May 2011 the Guatemalan government signed an agreement with Árbenz's surviving family to restore his legacy and publicly apologize for the government's role in ousting him. This included a financial settlement to the family, as well as the family's insistence on social reparations and policies for the future of the Guatemalan people, a first for a judgement of this kind from the OAS. The formal apology was made at the National Palace by Guatemalan President [[Alvaro Colom]] on 20 October 2011, to [[Jacobo Árbenz Vilanova]], the son of the former president, and a Guatemalan politician.{{sfn|Malkin|2011a}} Colom stated, "It was a crime to Guatemalan society and it was an act of aggression to a government starting its democratic spring."{{sfn|Malkin|2011a}} The agreement established several forms of reparation for the next of kin of Árbenz Guzmán. Among other measures, the state:{{sfn|Malkin|2011a}}{{sfn|IACHR|2011}}
* held a public ceremony recognizing its responsibility
* sent a letter of apology to the next of kin
* named a hall of the National Museum of History and the highway to the Atlantic after the former president
* revised the basic national school curriculum (Currículo Nacional Base)
* established a degree program in Human Rights, Pluriculturalism, and Reconciliation of Indigenous Peoples
* held a photographic exhibition on Árbenz Guzmán and his legacy at the National Museum of History
* recovered the wealth of photographs of the Árbenz Guzmán family
* published a book of photos
* reissued the book ''Mi esposo, el presidente Árbenz'' (My Husband President Árbenz)
* prepared and published a biography of the former president, and
* issued a series of postage stamps in his honor.

The official statement issued by the government recognized its responsibility for "failing to comply with its obligation to guarantee, respect, and protect the human rights of the victims to a fair trial, to property, to equal protection before the law, and to judicial protection, which are protected in the American Convention on Human Rights and which were violated against former President Juan Jacobo Árbenz Guzman, his wife, [[María Cristina Vilanova|María Cristina Villanova]], and his children, [[Jacobo Árbenz Vilanova|Juan Jacobo]], María Leonora, and Arabella, all surnamed Árbenz Villanova."{{sfn|IACHR|2011}}