The significance is that appointments are discretionary. If someone doesn't enter the judiciary through concursos, credential scrutiny, or a kind of test—they used to have psychological tests, and they had to have credentials in terms of post-graduate studies and so on—and people are just being appointed in a discretionary way, then they are basically being appointed by friends.
I can give you an example. The president of the criminal courts in Caracas is very close to President Chávez. In her circuit, her son has direct influence in decisions. He is paid by the judiciary. Nobody knows what exactly he's doing there, and he's the boyfriend of another judge who happens to be the same judge who is looking at Judge Afiuni's case. According to the law, you cannot give a case to a judge; it has to go through a computerized distribution process. She received that case in her hands, without this form of distribution.
She's also responsible for the case of two students who are very prominent leaders of the student movement. She's responsible for the case of Richard Blanco, who is an aide of the mayor of the metropolitan area of Caracas. In these cases, she has always put people in prison. In two cases, they have already been released, but on bail. The case continues.
She's also responsible for two cases that remain...which are the bomb attack against a major synagogue in Caracas and the attacks openly recognized by the group La Piedrita against Globovisión and other media's public offices, as well as threats against journalists. La Piedrita is almost a paramilitary group. She's responsible for the investigation. At some point, the situation with La Piedrita was so disturbing that even President Chávez said this guy has to be investigated, and the next day he was out of the country. The rest of the members of La Piedrita are being investigated.
All these cases are in her court, and she's the girlfriend of the son of the head of that circuit. A year and a half ago, she was a secretary.