ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a political history and interpretation of Guatemalan peace process, its key turning points and crises. It describes how the United Nations (UN) became a central player in that process, traces its interactions with the key Guatemalan players, and suggests some hypotheses about the effects of its involvement. During the Serrano years (1991–1993), the negotiations had been chaired and coordinated by Msgr. Quezada Toruño as "conciliator," with the UN as observer. In the world of Guatemala, even this represented a significant advance, insofar as the idea of a negotiated end to the war was finally accepted by the government, and a serious peace process began. UN-moderated negotiations continued throughout the rest of 1995 on the next theme, socioeconomic issues, including the ever-prickly question of land reform. MINUGUA's periodic human rights monitoring reports served as a signal to the international community regarding the human rights climate in Guatemala.
