Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

File:PresidentLuladaSilva.jpg 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 was elected 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. Union activities were strongly suppressed by the right-wing dictatorship of Brazil in this era, and his 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, was formed to address workers' concerns. In 1982 he added the nickname "Lula" to his legal name.

In 1986, he was elected to a seat in Brazil's Congress with a record percentage of the votes. The PT helped to write the country's post-dictatorship constitution, ensuring strong constitutional guarantees of workers' rights, but failing to gain redistribution of rural agricultural land.

In 1989, Lula was 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, was not elected. His party was formed by left-center wing social-democrats as well as trotskyte socisliats, which also helped making the rich affraid of him.

State visit to Mozambique, Nov. 2003. One of Lula's aims is 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 was extremely worrisome to 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.

In the second round of the election, October 27, 2002, da Silva 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 (who was even seen as a "son of moscow" in 1989) accepted changes on his original ideas. His allies progressively led him to a centrist political position. When most brazilians expected deep social changes in his government, Lula chose to keep all 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 it is serious about being a world player.

In the first days of Lula's government, his Worker's Party (PT)experienced major internal problems due to the conservative policies of the president. Radical members of the PT demanded him quick and aggressive struggle against poverty, and social reforms which would make Brazil a semi-socialist coutry. He refused to do so, and a conflict between governist political forces began. In 2003 and 2004, thousands of PT members were expelled or just abandoned the party. With this great loss of support, Lula had to turn to his former enemies of the right wing, and surrendered many points of his original plans to those new allies.

Lula began to be seen as a weak character, controlled by his smart allies. The unmade social changes and the political conflicts which caused his PT to crack in two made his popularity fall very quickly in 2003 and specially 2004.

In august 2004 Lula promoted the president of the brazilian Central Bank, Henrique Meirelles, to the category of minister, after Meirelles was accused of corruption. Meirelles' promotion slowed down investigations, but the people noted this manuever and Lula's popularity fell a little more. At the same time, his government's efforts to create the National Council of Jounarlists - an institution with the power to take journalists' professional bagdes - was seen as an attemp of controlling the press. Lula was largely accused of having authoritarian ambitions. And his popularity fell more and more.

The Journalists' Council crisis is still going on and it's final outcome is uncertain.

Articles about Lula's election and foreign policy

• Lula's foreign policy of Third World unity, The Nation
• Joy as Brazil swings Left, Melbourne Herald Sun
• Brazil's 'Lula' Celebrates Election as President, Voice of America News
• Financial markets hold for Lula, BBC News
• Peace, love and power, Radio Netherlands

External Links

• Official homepage