Karl Borromäus Maria Heinrich Graf von Spreti (21 May 1907 – 5 April 1970) was a German diplomat.
The story of his assassination by Guatemalan guerillas was depicted in a 1970 book, Why Karl von Spreti Died, by Ryszard Kapuściński.
Spreti was born in the Kapfing Castle near Landshut to an aristocratic family (his direct ancestor was Leo von Klenze).
After his service in the Second World War German Army and a short period in Allied captivity, he settled in Lindau, where he continued his career as an architect and as a local politician for the Christian Social Union of Bavaria.
[2][5] Three days after Spreti's murder, an anti-communist death squad named Mano Blanca retaliated by assassinating the Communist politician César Montenegro Paniagua.