The January 31 Popular Front, or Frente Popular 31 de Enero (FP-31) in Spanish, is a leftist guerilla group that was involved in terrorist attacks  --  from gun attacks to arson to siege  --  in Guatemala in the early 1980s. The group's name commemorates a January 31, 1980 incident in which 39 peasants occupying the Spanish embassy died when the building caught fire during a fight with police. Those peasants, and the members of FP-31, were dedicated to publicizing atrocities allegedly committed by the military government against Guatemalans in the countryside. <P><br />FP-31 first surfaced on January 30, 1981, almost exactly one year after the Spanish embassy fire. On that date, gunmen believed to be part of the group opened fire at a news conference at the San Carlos University Cultural Center. Four people were killed. Over the coming months, FP-31 was associated with numerous incidents of arson; they were believed to have set fire to everything from buses to airline offices to theaters. Also, the group engaged in several fairly extensive propaganda campaigns, distributing leaflets outlining complaints against the military government and urging citizens to boycott the 1982 election, among other things. <P><br />FP-31 gained international attention when a number of its members, along with others from two different groups, stormed the Brazilian embassy in Guatemala on May 12, 1982, taking the Brazilian ambassador and as many as 11 others hostage. Shouting through megaphones out windows, several members claimed the group had weapons, while another claimed the group's only weapons were its protests and leaflets. The group insisted it would not let the hostages go unless the government allowed them to publicize attacks they claimed were being made in rural Guatemala against civilians. With the help of Brazilian negotiators, the group and the government came to an agreement that the hostages would be released in exchange for the group's safe escape from the country. On May 14, the hostages were released and the group members boarded a plane for Mexico City, where they were guaranteed asylum. Before leaving, the FP-31 members held a press conference refocusing attention on the "massacres, torture, rape and burning of crops and ranches" they claim were occurring in the country at the hands of the Guatemalan military. <P><br />The embassy hostage situation was the last major incident attributed to FP-31. The group was believed to be associated with the four major leftist guerilla groups involved in Guatemala's 36-year-long civil war against the military government and right-wing vigilante groups. In February of 1982, these four groups merged to form the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity. Given FP-31's association with the members of the new umbrella group, it is possible that FP-31 joined the Unity and stopped independently taking credit for attacks and propaganda after the hostage incident. <br />