Editing History of Guatemala (section)

====== Spanish Embassy fire ======
On 31 January 1980, a group of displaced [[K'iche' people|K'iche']] and [[Ixil people|Ixil]] peasant farmers occupied the [[Diplomatic missions of Spain|Spanish Embassy]] in Guatemala City to protest the kidnapping and murder of peasants in [[Uspantán]] by elements of the Guatemalan Army. During the subsequent police raid, despite objections from the Spanish ambassador, police attacked the building with incendiary explosives. A fire broke out as the police prevented those inside from escaping, resulting in the deaths of 36 people. The victims' funeral, which included the previously unknown father of [[Rigoberta Menchú]], Vicente Menchú, drew hundreds of thousands of mourners. A new guerrilla group, the ''Frente Patriótico 31 de Enero'' (Patriotic Front of 31 January), was formed to commemorate the event. The incident is considered "the defining event" of the Guatemalan Civil War.<ref name="arias 161">
{{cite book
  | last = Arias
  | first = Arturo
  | title = Taking Their Word: Literature and the Signs of Central America
  | publisher = University of Minnesota Press
  | year = 2007
  | page = 161
  | isbn = 978-0-8166-4849-8
}}
</ref> The Guatemalan government claimed that its forces had entered the embassy at the request of the Spanish Ambassador and that the occupiers, whom they labeled "[[terrorist]]s," had "sacrificed the hostages and immolated themselves afterward." Ambassador Cajal denied these claims, and Spain immediately severed diplomatic relations with Guatemala, denouncing the action as a violation of "the most elementary norms of international law".<ref name="time 1980">
{{Cite news
  | title = Outright Murder
  | newspaper = Time
  | date = 11 February 1980
  | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950248,00.html
  | access-date = 12 February 2015
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100811194151/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950248,00.html
  | archive-date = 11 August 2010
  | url-status = dead
  | df = dmy-all
  }}
</ref> Diplomatic relations between Spain and Guatemala were not restored until 22 September 1984.