Luiz In cio Lula da Silva

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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
President of Brazil
Became President:January 1, 2003
Predecessor:Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Date of Birth:October 27, 1945
Place of Birth:Garanhuns (today Caetés),
Pernambuco State
Party:Workers' Party

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (born October 27, 1945) is a left-wing Brazilian politician. Lula gained election as the President of Brazil in 2002 and took office on January 1, 2003.

Lula was born as Luiz Inácio da Silva in a small village in the impoverished Brazilian state of Pernambuco, but he grew up in the city of Santos, São Paulo state, where jobs were more readily available. He had little formal education, instead working in various entry-level jobs since childhood.

At the age of 21, he lost a finger in a work accident while working in an auto parts factory. Around the same time, he became involved in union activities and held several important union posts. The right-wing dictatorship of Brazil in this era strongly suppressed union activities, and Lula's views moved further to the political left in reaction.

In the 1970s, Lula helped organize major union activities including several huge strikes. He was arrested and jailed for a month, but was released following protests. The strikes ended with both pro-union and pro-government forces dissatisfied with the outcome, and in 1980 the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), or Workers' Party, formed to address workers' concerns. In 1982 he added the nickname "Lula" to his legal name.

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Elections

In 1986, Lula won election to a seat in Brazil's Congress with a record percentage of the votes. The Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) helped to write the country's post-dictatorship constitution, ensuring strong constitutional guarantees for workers' rights, but failing to gain redistribution of rural agricultural land.

In 1989, Lula stood as the PT presidential candidate. He proved popular with a wide spectrum of Brazilian society, but feared as an opponent by business owners and financial interests, lost the election. His party was formed by left-center wing social-democrats as well as Trotskyite socialists, which also helped to make the rich afraid of him.

State visit to Mozambique, Nov. 2003. Lula aims to build Brazil's relationships with other Portuguese-speaking countries.
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State visit to Mozambique, Nov. 2003. Lula aims to build Brazil's relationships with other Portuguese-speaking countries.

Lula continued to run for the office of President in subsequent elections. In his 2002 campaign he abandoned his style of informal clothing, as well as his platform plank of refusing to pay the Brazilian foreign debt. This last point had very much worried US economists, businessmen and banks, who feared that a Brazilian default along with the already ongoing Argentine default would have a massive ripple effect through the world economy.

The Government

In the second round of the 2002 election, held on October 27, Lula defeated José Serra of the Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (Brazilian Social Democracy Party or PSDB) to become the president-elect of Brazil.

The once-feared Lula (even seen as a "son of Moscow" in 1989) accepted changes to his original ideas. His allies progressively led him to a centrist political position. When most Brazilians expected deep social changes from his government, Lula chose to keep all the economic and social policies of his predecessor Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

Lula has a slighly aggressive foreign policy: this involves unifying opposition to the Washington Consensus among developing nations to push for better terms of trade for the global South. This was seen in the collapse of the Cancun World Trade Organization talks in 2003 over G-8 agricultural subsidies with the walkout of developing nations. Another key proposal of Lula's is a small Tobin tax on international financial transactions that will go to fund developing nations. Brazil has also sent many peacekeeping troops to Haiti to show its resolve as a global player.

External links

Articles about Lula's election and foreign policy


Preceded by:
Fernando Henrique Cardoso 		President of Brazil Succeeded by:



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