CONCEPT – BRAZIL’S LULA DA SILVA

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CONCEPT – BRAZIL’S LULA DA SILVA

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• Who is Brazil's ex-president Lula? He was once the most celebrated of Brazilian Presidents but is now a convicted criminal. When he exited as President in January 2011, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was the most successful leader the country had known. The economy was booming and he handed the reins of power to his preferred successor, Dilma Rousseff.
• From shoeshine boy to president: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was born the son of poor farm workers in October 1945. In the 1970s, he became known nationally for his work as the leader of the Steel Workers' Union and as a resistance fighter against Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-1985).
• Jailed and founding the PT party: In 1979, he was sentenced to one month in jail for leading strikes. And in 1980, he founded the PT. Lula was unsuccessful in three consecutive presidential bids – 1989, 1994 and 1998 – before succeeding in 2002.
• Policies: By promising to maintain the economic policies of predecessor Fernando Henrique Cardoso, he shook off his radical-leftist image and won the support of the business community. Lula won the presidential election on October 27, 2002, and took office on January 1, 2003.
• Zero Hunger: His "Fome Zero" (Zero Hunger) program helped small farmers, fed the poor and brought water reservoirs to historically dry regions.
• "Bolsa Familia": The Family Purse program garnered international praise. The welfare program tied assistance for poor families to their children's attendance at school. He also made college accessible to poor.
• Result: More than 2 crore people were lifted out of poverty as a direct result of social welfare programs created by the Lula government between 2003 and 2010. Brazil's reputation throughout the world grew, as did support for the PT – especially among Brazil's poorer citizens. The global economic boom, and the demand for raw materials from Brazil that went with it, helped finance the PT's social welfare programs.
• Illness and corruption allegations: As ex-president, Lula devoted himself to maintaining his contacts and offering his skills as an advisor. Between 2011 and 2015, an institute founded by Lula received roughly €6.6 million ($8.1 million) from a number of different businesses for speaking fees alone. But Lula suffered a series of personal and political setbacks shortly after he began his second term in office. In late October of 2011, doctors found a tumor in his larynx. He underwent chemotherapy and managed to beat his cancer.
• Operation Car Wash: His Lula's political star began sinking in 2014 when investigators launched Operation Lava Jato (Car Wash). This was prompted by the discovery of a multi-billion dollar bribery scandal involving the partially state-owned oil giant Petrobras. High-ranking PT politicians were also involved and some were convicted. Then, in January 2018, the scandal finally caught up.

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