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In 1954, Guatemala's freely-elected, socialist-leaning president Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown by a small group of Guatemalans backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).The CIA codename for the coup was Operation PBSUCCESS, its second successful overthrow of a foreign government. The subsequent military rule, beginning with dictator Carlos Castillo Armas, led to over 30 years of civil war that, from 1960, led to the death of an estimated 200,000 Guatemalan civilians. Due to the military's use of rampant torture, disappearances, "scorched earth" warfare and many other brutal methods, the country became a pariah state internationally.
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