Book excerpt: The following report is about MINUGUA (United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala), a United Nations humanitarian mission in Guatemala that involved, at the most critical point in the peace process, a three-month peacekeeping mission. The aim of the operation was to conclude the 36-year Civil War which had ravaged the country. It was the international community's response to the decision by both government and guerrillas to return to the negotiating table in 1994 and the subsequent signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights on 29 March 1994, one of several documents adopted in the run-up to the final peace agreement.