ABSTRACT
After transition from military and authoritarian rule, it is commonly assumed that the new electoral democracy would be followed straight away by a regime fully committed to the protection of civic and political rights. However, such an outcome should not be taken for granted in the Latin American region, with virtually no tradition of either a truly independent judiciary or respect of judicial guarantees for the impartial administration of justice in all cases, nor a court system accessible to every citizen. After all, due process of law was a commonly unfulfilled legal concept in the Americas, because of the constant interventions by the military in the political systems or due to authoritarian intrusions of the executives into the judicial branch.1 Also, governments had long disregarded any creation or enhancement of legal and judicial structures truly protective of civil and political rights and this has proven to be a difficult tendency to revert, even after many years of democratic rule as it has been the case in Colombia and Venezuela.
