International Support and Verification Commission

In part this situation was due to the UN's emphasis on ONUCA (Observadores de las Naciones Unidas en Centro América - UN Observer Group in Central America), but it also reflected a geographic division of labor: the UN was assigned repatriation responsibilities in Honduras (where it was active only in late 1989 and early 1990), Costa Rica (where there were few Contras) and El Salvador (where there were practically none, and where the FMLN was having no part in any "voluntary repatriation").

The Venezuelan Battalion went home and the ONUCA mandate reverted to the original rather limited one of watching for violations of the Esquipulas prohibition on cross-border support of irregular forces.

CIAV, on the other hand, now assumed full responsibility for supporting the former Contras in Nicaragua, as well as those (mainly dependents and the sick and wounded) who still remained in Honduras.

CIAV-UN in practice was handled by an existing UN organization, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and concentrated on repatriating the Nicaraguans out of Honduras, much to the relief of the Hondurans themselves.

In the countryside they frequently found themselves mediating a wide range of situations involving land ownership, human rights violations, and assorted violent or disruptive actions by an impressive array of players.