The Burning of the Spanish Embassy (sometimes called the Spanish Embassy Massacre or the Spanish Embassy Fire) refers to the occupation of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on January 31, 1980, by indigenous peasants of the Committee for Peasant Unity and their allies and the subsequent police raid that resulted in a fire which destroyed the embassy and left 37 people dead. The incident has been called "the defining event" of the Guatemalan Civil War. Spain terminated diplomatic relations with Guatemala as a result.
