Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Biography Quotes 9 Report mistakes

Early Life and Migration
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was born on October 27, 1945, in Caetes, then a district of Garanhuns, in the northeastern state of Pernambuco, Brazil. One of eight children of Aristides Inacio da Silva and Euridice Ferreira de Melo, known as Dona Lindu, he grew up amid poverty and drought in the Sertao. In the early 1950s, after his father had migrated south, Dona Lindu led several of her children on a days-long truck journey to the industrial outskirts of Sao Paulo, part of the great northeastern migration that reshaped Brazil. The family settled in the ABC industrial belt, where Lula worked from an early age shining shoes and selling food on the streets before training as a metalworker through SENAI. As a young lathe operator, he lost the little finger of his left hand in a factory accident, an indelible marker of his working-class identity and of the hazardous world of Brazilian industry.

Union Leadership and Political Formation
In the 1970s, under the military regime, Lula rose through the ranks of the ABC Metalworkers Union in Sao Bernardo do Campo and Diadema. Elected its president in 1975, he helped organize a wave of strikes in 1978, 1980 that challenged wage controls and authoritarian rule. The strikes, focused on basic rights and salaries eroded by inflation, drew national attention. In 1980 he was arrested and held for more than a month for leading an illegal strike, becoming a symbol of labor resistance. He was influenced by his mother's insistence on dignity and by the experiences of his brother Frei Chico, a militant who suffered repression, as well as by pastoral activists within the Catholic Church's liberation theology networks.

Founding the Workers Party and Building a Political Base
Also in 1980, Lula joined unionists, intellectuals, and activists to found the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Party, PT). Figures such as Jose Dirceu, Olivio Dutra, Marta Suplicy, and Aloizio Mercadante were early collaborators, and the party's growth soon dovetailed with the creation of the Central Unica dos Trabalhadores (CUT), the national trade union center established in 1983. Lula ran for governor of Sao Paulo in 1982, gaining visibility despite defeat. In 1986 he won a seat as a federal deputy with a record number of votes from Sao Paulo and participated in the 1987, 1988 Constituent Assembly that drafted Brazil's democratic constitution.

Presidential Campaigns and Breakthrough
Lula ran for president in 1989 in Brazil's first direct presidential election since the dictatorship, losing in a runoff to Fernando Collor de Mello after a bruising campaign. He ran again in 1994 and 1998, losing both times to Fernando Henrique Cardoso, whose Real Plan stabilized inflation and dominated the political landscape. Adapting his approach, Lula's 2002 campaign paired him with businessman Jose Alencar as running mate and used more conciliatory messaging developed with strategist Duda Mendonca. The "Carta ao Povo Brasileiro", pledging respect for contracts and macroeconomic stability, reassured markets. He won the presidency and took office on January 1, 2003.

Governing Style and Economic Management (2003–2010)
Lula's first term balanced social ambition with fiscal discipline. Finance minister Antonio Palocci maintained primary surpluses and inflation targeting, while Henrique Meirelles led an independent-minded Central Bank. After Palocci's departure, Guido Mantega guided economic policy, and the state development bank BNDES expanded long-term credit. Chief of Staff Jose Dirceu, and later Dilma Rousseff, coordinated government programs and coalition management in Brazil's multiparty Congress. Foreign minister Celso Amorim steered an activist diplomacy.

The administration consolidated social transfers under Bolsa Familia, integrating existing programs and conditioning benefits on school attendance and health checkups. The Fome Zero initiative drew on ideas and networks that included the writer and friar Frei Betto. Growth and job creation during a global commodity upcycle, combined with the minimum wage policy and credit expansion, lifted millions out of poverty and into the formal economy. Lula's second term, won in 2006 against Geraldo Alckmin, emphasized infrastructure through the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), coordinated by Dilma Rousseff, and capitalized on major pre-salt oil discoveries by Petrobras.

Scandals, Accountability, and Resilience
In 2005 the "mensalao" scandal erupted, alleging that PT intermediaries, including Marcos Valerio, financed monthly payments to legislators. Jose Dirceu resigned as chief of staff and later, along with party leaders like Jose Genoino and Delubio Soares, was tried in the Supreme Court case known as Action 470. Under the scrutiny of justices such as Joaquim Barbosa and Gilmar Mendes, convictions were handed down years later. Lula maintained that he had not authorized wrongdoing, and his personal approval ratings remained high, aided by social gains and economic results. He finished his second term in 2010 with strong popularity and helped elect Dilma Rousseff as his successor, with Michel Temer as her vice president.

International Role
On the world stage, Lula promoted South-South ties, helping form and elevate groupings like IBSA and BRICS. He worked closely with regional leaders such as Nestor Kirchner and later Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in Argentina, and engaged Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia while maintaining pragmatic relations with the United States under George W. Bush and Barack Obama. In 2010, alongside Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and with Celso Amorim's diplomacy, he sought to broker the Tehran Declaration on Iran's nuclear program, a move that highlighted Brazil's ambitions but met skepticism from Washington and European capitals.

From the Presidency to the Institute
After leaving office, Lula founded the Instituto Lula to continue policy dialogue and international outreach. He remained an influential figure in the PT, advising Dilma Rousseff during her presidency. The economic slowdown and political polarization that intensified after the global downturn exposed fiscal and governance strains, culminating in Rousseff's 2016 impeachment, which Lula denounced as a political maneuver. Her successor, Michel Temer, pursued a different policy agenda and later worked with Henrique Meirelles at the finance ministry.

Operation Car Wash and Legal Saga
The sprawling Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato) investigation into corruption at Petrobras and public works contractors swept across parties and business elites. Prosecutors led in Curitiba by Deltan Dallagnol and judge Sergio Moro brought charges against Lula, alleging that a beachfront apartment in Guaruja and reforms paid by contractors amounted to illicit benefits. Lula denied ownership and argued the case lacked direct proof. Convicted in 2017 and losing initial appeals in 2018, he was jailed in Curitiba in April 2018, even as he led polls for that year's presidential race. Supreme Court debates over due process and the timing of imprisonment were intense, with justices including Edson Fachin, Gilmar Mendes, and Alexandre de Moraes weighing pivotal rulings. In November 2019, after the Supreme Court shifted its stance on imprisonment before final appeals, Lula was released. In 2021, Fachin annulled his convictions on jurisdictional grounds, and the Court later found Moro to have acted with bias, restoring Lula's political rights.

Return to Electoral Politics and a Third Term
With his rights reinstated, Lula built a broad coalition for the 2022 election, choosing former rival Geraldo Alckmin as his running mate. Environmental leader Marina Silva rejoined his camp after years apart, and centrist figures such as Simone Tebet supported him in the runoff. Lula narrowly defeated the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and took office on January 1, 2023. Days later, rioters vandalized government buildings in Brasilia; authorities under the Supreme Court, with justices including Alexandre de Moraes, and congressional leaders moved to reassert institutional order.

Lula's third term placed Fernando Haddad at the finance ministry to craft a new fiscal framework and revive public investment while relaunching Bolsa Familia with expanded benefits. Marina Silva returned to the environment ministry, overseeing tightened enforcement that reduced Amazon deforestation compared with the previous year. Celso Amorim became a top presidential adviser for foreign affairs, and Mauro Vieira served as foreign minister, as the government renewed ties with the United States under Joe Biden, deepened relations with China under Xi Jinping, and supported an expanded BRICS. Lula advocated for peace efforts in the Ukraine war and for reform of global governance, positions that drew both praise and debate. At home, he worked with Congress leaders such as Arthur Lira to navigate a fragmented legislature and with state governors to coordinate security and development.

Personal Life and Character
Lula's personal life shaped his public persona. His first wife, Maria de Lourdes, died in 1971. He married Marisa Leticia in the 1970s; she was a steadfast partner through union struggles and the tumult of national politics until her death in 2017. In 2022 he married sociologist Rosangela Silva, known as Janja. Diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in 2011, Lula underwent treatment and announced remission the following year. In 2023 he had hip surgery to address chronic pain. Friends and allies such as Luiz Marinho, a fellow union leader, and party builders including Aloizio Mercadante remained close collaborators over decades, while recurring adversaries and interlocutors across the aisle, among them Fernando Henrique Cardoso and, more recently, Jair Bolsonaro, helped define the contours of his political journey.

Legacy and Influence
Lula's trajectory, from a northeastern migrant and factory floor to three presidential terms, has made him one of the most consequential figures in modern Brazilian history. He is credited with reducing poverty and inequality, expanding Brazil's international profile, and consolidating social programs, even as his governments faced serious corruption scandals that tested institutions and divided public opinion. His story is inseparable from the people around him: the grit of Dona Lindu; the labor militancy he forged with peers in the ABC region; the governing teams that included figures like Jose Alencar, Dilma Rousseff, Celso Amorim, Antonio Palocci, Guido Mantega, and Henrique Meirelles; and the judges, prosecutors, allies, and rivals who, through conflict and cooperation, shaped the arc of Brazilian democracy.

Our collection contains 9 quotes who is written by Luiz, under the main topics: Ethics & Morality - Justice - Leadership - Hope - Equality.