Weekly Report - 16 March 2004

President Nicanor Duarte's drive to `pulverise' the supreme court was not meant to end with the impeachment of six justices [WR-03-49]. The ostensible purpose was that this should have been the starting-point for the reform of the judiciary so that it would become, so to speak, unimpeachable. Last week's process of selection of the new justices was, instead, a disappointing throwback to the old practice of party-political quotas.