Police Chief Found Guilty of Massacre at Spanish Embassy in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY – A Guatemalan court on Monday found former police chief Pedro Garcia Arredondo guilty of murdering 37 people who burned to death on Jan. 31, 1980, at the Spanish Embassy in the country’s capital.The accused “used the means to ensure the deaths of those who were inside the embassy,” said the court during the reading of the conviction Monday afternoon.

Garcia Arredondo headed a command within the now defunct National Police and, according to the court ruling, he was the officer who gave the order to set fire to the diplomatic mission.