<P> Numerous other human rights violations were committed, including massacres of civilian populations, rape, aerial bombardment, and forced disappearances . Gleijeses wrote that Guatemala was "ruled by a culture of fear", and that it held the "macabre record for human rights violations in Latin America". These violations were partially the result of a particularly brutal counter-insurgency strategy adopted by the government . The ideological narrative that the 1954 coup had represented a battle against communism was often used to justify the violence in the 1980s . Historians have attributed the violence of the civil war to the 1954 coup, and the "anti-communist paranoia" that it generated . The civil war came to an end in 1996, with a peace accord between the guerrillas and the government of Guatemala, which included an amnesty for the fighters on both sides . The civil war claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 civilians in all . </P> <P> In March 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton apologized to the Guatemalan government for the atrocities committed by the U.S. - backed dictatorships . Clinton stated "For the United States it is important that I state clearly that support for military forces and intelligence units which engaged in violence and widespread repression was wrong, and the United States must not repeat that mistake ." The apology came soon after the release of a truth commission report that documented U.S. support for the military forces that committed genocide . </P> <P> 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 . The formal apology was made at the National Palace by Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom on 20 October 2011, to Jacobo Árbenz Villanova, the son of the former president, and a Guatemalan politician . Colom stated, "It was a crime to Guatemalan society and it was an act of aggression to a government starting its democratic spring ." The agreement established several forms of reparation for the next of kin of Árbenz Guzmán . </P>

Why did the united states support the overthrow of an elected guatemalan