Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (born October 27, 1945) is a Brazilian politician and former trade union leader who is the current President of Brazil since January 1, 2023. He previously was president from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2010. He is a co-founder and member of the Workers' Party. He was a Federal Deputy for Sao Paulo from 1987 to 1991. He had run three times for president, until winning the presidency during his fourth campaign in 2002, when he was elected to replace Fernando Henrique Cardoso. He was re-elected in 2006 in a landslide victory.
In his first tenure as president, Lula created social programs including Bolsa Familia and Fome Zero, which helped fight against poverty and the lower class citizens of Brazil. He also had an important role in international politics such as the nuclear program of Iran and climate change. He helped lower deforestation in the Amazons. His second term became controversial because of many scandals, such as the Mensalao scandal. However, after leaving office, he was seen as one of the most popular presidents in Brazil's history and most popular leader of the world. Lula is a popular figure in Brazilian politics and his ideas have been called Lulism.
In early 2016, Lula was appointed Chief of Staff under his successor Dilma Rousseff, but his appointment was blocked because of federal investigations against him at the time. In July 2017, Lula was convicted on charges of money laundering and corruption in a controversial trial, and sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. After an unsuccessful appeal, Lula was arrested in April 2018 and spent 580 days in jail. In 2021, his sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court of Brazil because his jail sentence was seen as politically motivated.
Lula ran for president again in 2018, however dropped out after being charged for bribery. In May 2021, Lula said he would run for a third term in the 2022 general election, against the incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro. In October 2022 in the run-off election, Lula would beat Bolsonaro, winning 50.9% of the vote.
Early life
Lula was born in Caetes, Pernambuco to Aristides Inacio da Silva and Euridice Ferreira de Melo. He was raised Roman Catholic. Lula was raised in Sao Paulo. His family lived in poverty and his father died of alcoholism.
He did not learn to read until he was ten years old and quit school after the second grade to work and help his family.
He studied at National Service for Industrial Training to become a metalworker. He lost the little finger on his left hand at 19 in an accident, while working as a press operator. It was because of this injury, he became more active in the labor unions and labour rights movement.
Union career
Lula joined the labour movement when he worked at Villares Metals S.A.. He was elected in 1975, and reelected in 1978, as president of the Steel Workers' Union of Sao Bernardo do Campo and Diadema.
In the late 1970s, when Brazil was under military rule, Lula helped organize union activities, including major strikes. He was in jail for a month because under the military rule, his strikes were seen as illegal. Lula was awarded a lifetime pension after the fall of the military regime.
Legislative career
On 10 February 1980, Lula co-founded the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) or Workers' Party. That same year, he became National President of the Workers' Party and was in this role until 1988. In 1982, he added the nickname Lula to his legal name. In 1983, he helped found the Central Unica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) union association.
In 1987, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. During his time as a deputy, he helped write the country's post-military rule constitution. He also focused on agricultural land reform and for fixing the country's debt. He decided not to run for re-election in 1990. He became Workers' Party President again in 1990 and he left the role in 1994.
Early presidential campaigns
Lula first ran for President of Brazil in 1989 and lost the election to Fernando Collor de Mello. He ran for president again in 1994 and came in second place again, losing to Fernando Henrique Cardoso. He would lose to Henrique Cardoso again in 1998.
First presidency
In 2002, Lula was elected President of Brazil, beating Jose Serra in a landslide victory. In 2006, he was re-elected in another landslide victory, beating Geraldo Alckmin.
Lula created a housing aid program to fix housing problems and help people in poverty have homes.
During Lula's first term, child hunger decreased by 46%. In May 2010, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) awarded Lula da Silva the title of "World Champion in the Fight against Hunger". Lula also fixed the country's economy by fixing its debt, and help make the economy strong enough for foreign banks to make investments and profits in Brazil again.
His second term as president, focused on environmental issues and created protection programs on indigenous lands and stopped deforestation in the Amazons. However, his second term was also controversial because of the Mensalao scandal, which said that Lula da Silva's party, the Workers' Party, had bribed Deputies to support and pass pro-Lula legislation.
When he left office, Lula da Silva was extremely popular, with many calling him Brazil's most popular president and the most popular politician in the world.
2018 presidential campaign
In 2017, Lula announced he would run as the Workers' Party candidate for president again in the 2018 election. His campaign was controversial and a target of attacks. In Parana, a campaign bus was shot, and in Rio Grande do Sul, rocks were thrown at a Lula campaign bus. Despite this, he was seen as the front-runner to win the election.
While bribe charges against Lula were being held, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled on 17 August 2018 that it had requested the Brazilian government to allow Lula to be political and run for office. Despite this, Lula was charged and was forced to withdraw his campaign.
Bribe charges and release
On July 12, 2017, the former president was convicted at first instance of corruption (more specifically, the crime of passive corruption which in Brazilian criminal law is defined by the receipt of a bribe by a civil servant or government official) and money laundering and sentenced to nine years and six months in prison by judge Sergio Moro. This made him ineligible to run for president in the 2018 election, and he dropped out of the election.
In 2021, his sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court of Brazil and all charges were cleared and seen as politically motivated.
Second presidency
2022 presidential campaign
In May 2021, Lula said he would run for a third term in the October 2022 general election, against the incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro. He is seen as the front-runner to win the election and beat Bolsonaro. He was 17% ahead of Bolsonaro in a poll in January 2022. In April 2022, Lula announced former Sao Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin, who ran against him in the 2006 election, as his running mate.
On 2 October 2022, Lula advanced to the run-off election on 30 October against President Bolsonaro. Lula won 48.43% of the vote against Bolsonaro's 43.20%.
Lula was elected in the second round on 30 October, three days after his seventy-seventh birthday. He became the first president of Brazil elected to three terms and the first since Getulio Vargas to serve in non-consecutive terms. He is also the first candidate to unseat an incumbent president.
Tenure
Lula was sworn in on 1 January 2023. At aged 77, he is the oldest person to become president. Lula said that his main goals were to fix the country's economy, democracy and education systems; fight against poverty; and push for more environmental policies.
On 8 January 2023, supporters of Bolsonaro stormed and invaded the Praca dos Tres Poderes in Brasilia, taking over the offices of the Supreme Federal Court, National Congress of Brazil and the Palacio do Planalto.
Lula took a non-aligned stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Lula repeatedly attacked NATO and the European Union as the cause of the war. In April 2023 Lula condemned Russia's violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity and said Russia should withdraw from Ukrainian territory. He also put blame on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying "This guy is as responsible as Putin for the war," during an interview in May 2022. Later in April 2023, he suggested that Ukraine should "give up Crimea" in exchange for peace, saying Zelenskyy "can not want everything".
In the first 4 months of 2023, Amazon deforestation rate has seen a significant decrease, being reported 40.4% lower in comparison to the same period of 2022. Lula also promised to recognize 14 new indigenous reserves. Six were recognized as of May 2023.
Personal life
Lula was married to Maria de Lurdes Ribeiro from 1969 until her death in 1971. He was later married to Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva from 1974 until her death in 2017. In 2022, he married Rosangela da Silva. Lula has five children.
Health
In 2011, Lula, who was a smoker for 40 years, was diagnosed with throat cancer. He underwent chemotherapy, leading to a successful recovery.
References
Other websites
"Brazil's Presidential Election: Background on Economic Issues" from the Center for Economic and Policy Research
Profile of President Lula
Lula's foreign policy of Third World unity , The Nation
Brazil's 'Lula' Celebrates Election as President, Voice of America News
Financial markets hold for Lula, BBC News
Peace, love and power , Radio Netherlands
Brazil's Lost Leader from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs
"Interview transcript: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva" July 11, 2006 Financial Times
1945 births
Living people
Presidents of Brazil
Current national leaders
Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Democratic socialists
Politicians from Sao Paulo
Brazilian activists
Trade unionists