commiting various human rights abuses and massacres, like the Panzós massacre, via the Ejercito Secreto Anti-Comunista, a paramilitary group beholden to himself. In response to these massacres, sections of the FAR and a PGT splinter group also rejoined the armed struggle by the late 1970's, creating a volatile atmosphere in Guatemala. Guerrilla offensive and pre-unification measures The repression of the late 1970's failed to quell the rebellion and likely had the unintentional consequence of growing the ranks of the guerrilla factions between 1980 and 1981, who by that time were in charge of 9 departments in Guatemala. Another pivotal incident was the Spanish Embassy Fire in January 1980, in which the Guatemalan military firebombed the embassy to evict a protest group of indigenous peasant farmers and student activist inside the embassy, which also backfired at the military, leading to even more momentum for the guerrilla mobilization effort. By early 1981, the guerrilla forces were so strong that they mounted a major offensive on government forces, leaving rural areas in the West and South were firmly in their hands and enabling them to execute occasional assaults in the capital. The military responded with a widespread counter-insurgency campaign, linked with a divide and conquer strategy, by organizing the recruitment of indigenous people into, so-called "self-defense patrols" (Patrullas de Autodefensa Civil), to control their communities. The increasing oppression brought the divided groups back together, which had in 1978 already established a Tripartite cooperation agreement between EGP, FAR and PGT-ND. Geopolitical circumstances at the end of 1980 led the Cuban and Nicaraguan government, which supported the guerrilla, to ultimately press for a more thorough merger. Formation In the backdrop of these civil war circumstances the URNG formed as a leftist umbrella organization consisting of four groups: the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP), the Revolutionary Organization of People in Arms (ORPA), the Rebel Armed Forces (FAR) and the National Directing Nucleus of PGT (PGT-NDN) on 8 February 1982. The unification process was mediated by the Cuban government, who only wanted to support a unitary and forceful insurgency. In consequence the group became the public face of the long-running insurgency against the Guatemalan government throughout the Guatemalan Civil War. Later on, the URNG led the leftist opposition in peace negotiations with the conservative Guatemalan government. These negotiations began in 1986 and brought the end of the civil war when negotiations finished in December 1996, by