Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity, known by its Spanish acronym, URNG (Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca), was an umbrella organization of leftist insurgent groups formed in 1982.  URNG became the public face of Guatemala's long-running insurgency, organizing the operations of its members and eventually taking the lead in conducting peace negotiations. The negotiations, begun in 1987, finally brought an end to civil war in 1996. Since the conclusion of the peace process, the URNG and its member organizations have renounced violence. URNG is now a legal political party. <P><br /><br />Guatemala's civil war was a long and bloody affair. Left-wing guerrillas began fighting the country's conservative military governments in the early 1960s. The rebels drew support from the country's rural poor and disaffected indigenous peoples, as well as from urban intellectuals. The various insurgent groups relied on ambushes and raids against government security forces and the military, as well as bombings and assassinations. Foreigners, especially diplomats, and foreign businesses were also targeted. The government responded with clandestine and semi-official "death squads" -- shadowy organizations reputedly supported by the police or military that targeted prominent leftists for abduction and murder. The Guatemalan military took the war to the countryside, conducting counter-insurgent sweeps in remote villages. <p><br /><br />From the 1960s, four main groups dominated Guatemala's leftist insurgency: the Guatemalan Labor Party, the Guerrilla Army of the Poor, the Rebel Armed Forces, and the Revolutionary Organization of Armed People. It was these four groups that formed the URNG in 1982 (though some sources put the founding date as early as 1979). <P><br /><br />URNG's member organizations maintained their individual leadership structures and personnel rolls. They also conducted many of their own attacks. The URNG functioned as an umbrella organization governed by a committee of the leaders of its factions. The URNG organization was occasionally implicated in small attacks, but its primary purpose was to serve as a public and negotiating front for its united members. The group is best known for conducting nearly a decade of peace negotiations with the Guatemalan government on behalf of its member groups. As a result of the negotiations, the civil war ended in 1996.  <P><br />