Students Take Over Spanish Embassy in Guatemala CityAbout 180 university students and Indian activists briefly took over the Spanish embassy in Guatemala City on Friday, demanding a meeting with officials from the president's office.There were no reports of injuries or violence. An hour later, the protesters agreed to withdraw to a patio outside the building to wait for the president's representatives. But when spokesman Jorge Perez arrived, he flatly told the protesters ``the president is not going to negotiate under pressure.'' The protesters drowned out Perez with chants of ``The people, united, will never be defeated!'' and pledged to remain. The National Organization of Peasants wanted to discuss President Alfonso Portillo's nomination for the top post in an Indian development office, said Lisandro Iboy, a leader of the protest. They say Portillo's nominee, an Indian woman, is inexperienced and out of touch with the Indian community. Protest leader Lisandro Iboy said they targeted the Spanish embassy because of a historic protest that took place there 21 years ago. On Jan. 31, 1980, 36 peasants, including the father of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu, were burned alive when police and soldiers attacked the embassy to dislodge demonstrators protesting the repression of Guatemala's Indians. |
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