Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

About the Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazilian Portuguese: [lu’iz i’nasju ‘lula da ‘siwva] ; born Luiz Inacio da Silva; 27 October 1945), also known as Lula da Silva or simply Lula, is a Brazilian politician who is the 39th and current president of Brazil since 2023. A member of the Workers’ Party, Lula was also the 35th president from 2003 to 2011. He has also held the presidency of the G20 since 2023.

Lula quit school after second grade to work, and did not learn to read until he was ten years old. As a teenager, he worked as a metalworker and became a trade unionist. Between 1978 and 1980, he led workers’ strikes during Brazil’s military dictatorship, and in 1980, he helped start the Workers’ Party during Brazil’s political opening. Lula was one of the leaders of the 1984 Diretas Ja movement, which demanded direct elections. In 1986, he was elected a federal deputy in the state of Sao Paulo. He ran for president in 1989, but lost in the second round. He went on to also lose two other presidential elections, both in 1994, and then in 1998. He finally became president in 2002, in a runoff. In 2006, he was successfully re-elected in the second round.

Described as left-wing, his first presidency coincided with South America’s first pink tide and was marked by the consolidation of social welfare programs such as Bolsa Familia and Fome Zero. During his first two consecutive terms in office, he undertook reforms which eventually led to growth in GDP, reduction in public debt and inflation, and helping 20 million Brazilians escape poverty. He also played a role in foreign policy, both on a regional level and as part of global trade and environment negotiations. During those terms, Lula was considered one of the most popular politicians in Brazil’s history and left office with 80% approval rating. His first term was marked by notable scandals, including the Mensalao vote-buying scandal. After the 2010 Brazilian general election, he was succeeded by his former chief of staff, Dilma Rousseff, and remained active in politics and gave lectures.

In July 2017, Lula was convicted on charges of money laundering and corruption in a trial, after which he spent a total of 580 days in prison. He attempted to run in the 2018 Brazilian presidential election, but was disqualified under Brazil’s Ficha Limpa law; he was released the following year in 2019, and his conviction was nullified in 2021 by the Supreme Court. The same ruling, which also found serious biases in the case against him, also annulled all other pending cases against him. Now legally allowed to make another run for president, he did so in the 2022 election and ultimately defeated the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in a runoff. Sworn in on 1 January 2023 at the age of 77, he is the oldest Brazilian president at time of inauguration, as well as the first-ever candidate to have defeated an incumbent president and to be elected to a third term.