Weekly Report - 16 December 2003

The most significant development this week was that the national directorate of the ruling Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) last weekend finally expelled four of its most prominent `radicals' (`Shiites' to their adversaries) who persisted in voting against the reforms being pursued by President Lula da Silva. Hardly noticed was the fact that even the staunchly pro-Lula majority turned up at the meeting armed with a document which was strongly critical of the government's failure to deliver on the social front.