Editing History of Guatemala (section)

====== Increased insurgency and state repression: 1980–1982 ======
In the months following the Spanish Embassy fire, the human rights situation in Guatemala continued to deteriorate. The daily number of killings by official and unofficial security forces increased from an average of 20 to 30 in 1979 to a conservative estimate of 30 to 40 daily in 1980. Human rights sources estimated that 5,000 Guatemalans were killed by the government for "political reasons" in 1980 alone, making it the worst human rights violator in the hemisphere after [[El Salvador]].<ref>"Guatemala and El Salvador: Latin America's worst human rights violators in 1980" The Council on Hemispheric Affairs</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ramcharan|first=B.G.|title=The Right to Life in International Law|year=1985|publisher=Hague Academy of International Law: Center for Studies and Research|page=337}}</ref> In a report titled ''Guatemala: A Government Program of Political Murder,'' [[Amnesty International]] stated, "Between January and November of 1980, some 3,000 people described by government representatives as 'subversives' and 'criminals' were either shot on the spot in political assassinations or seized and murdered later; at least 364 others seized in this period have not yet been accounted for."<ref>{{cite book|title=Guatemala: A Government Program of Political Murder|year=1981|publisher=Amnesty International Publications|page=5}}</ref>

The government's repression and excessive force against the opposition became a source of contention within Lucas García's administration. This internal conflict led Vice President [[Francisco Villagrán Kramer]] to resign on 1 September 1980, citing his disapproval of the government's human rights record as one of his primary reasons. Following his resignation, Kramer went into voluntary exile in the United States, where he took a position in the Legal Department of the [[Inter-American Development Bank]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Guatemala81eng/chap.9.htm |title=Guatemala 1981 – Chapter IX |publisher=Cidh.oas.org |access-date=18 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184549/http://www.cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Guatemala81eng/chap.9.htm |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref>