Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva facts for kids

Quick facts for kids His Excellency Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Official portrait, 2023
35th & 39th President of Brazil
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 January 2023
Vice President	Geraldo Alckmin
Preceded by	Jair Bolsonaro
In office 1 January 2003 – 1 January 2011
Vice President	José Alencar
Preceded by	Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Succeeded by	Dilma Rousseff
National President of the Workers' Party
In office 15 July 1990 – 24 January 1994
Preceded by	Luiz Gushiken
Succeeded by	Rui Falcão
In office 9 August 1980 – 17 January 1988
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Olívio Dutra
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 27 March 1989 – 1 February 1991
Constituency	São Paulo
In office 1 February 1987 – 25 February 1989
Constituency	São Paulo
Personal details
Born	Luiz Inácio da Silva (1945-10-27) 27 October 1945 (age 79) Garanhuns, Pernambuco, Brazil
Political party	PT (since 1980)
Other political affiliations	FE Brasil (since 2022)
Spouses	Maria de Lourdes Ribeiro ​ ​ (m. 1969; died 1971)​ Marisa Letícia Casa ​ ​ (m. 1974; died 2017)​ Rosângela da Silva ​ (m. 2022)​
Children	5
Residence	Palácio da Alvorada
Education	National Service for Industrial Training
Occupation	Metalworker, trade unionist
Signature

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ( born Luiz Inácio 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. A member of the Workers' Party, he was also the 35th president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010. At age 77, he was sworn in on 1 January 2023, as the oldest Brazilian president at the time of inauguration. He has also held the presidency of the G20 since 2023.

In his first tenure as president, Lula created social programs including Bolsa Família and Fome Zero, which helped fight against poverty and the lower class citizens of Brazil. He also had an important role in international politics such as the nuclear program of Iran and climate change. He helped lower deforestation in the Amazons. His second term became controversial because of many scandals, such as the Mensalão scandal. However, after leaving office, he was seen as one of the most popular presidents in Brazil's history and most popular leader of the world. Lula is a popular figure in Brazilian politics and his ideas have been called Lulism.

In early 2016, Lula was appointed Chief of Staff under his successor Dilma Rousseff, but his appointment was blocked because of federal investigations against him at the time. In July 2017, Lula was convicted on charges of money laundering and corruption in a controversial trial, and sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. After an unsuccessful appeal, Lula was arrested in April 2018 and spent 580 days in jail. In 2021, his sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court of Brazil because his jail sentence was seen as politically motivated.

Lula ran for president again in 2018, however dropped out after being charged for bribery. In May 2021, Lula said he would run for a third term in the 2022 general election, against the incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro. In October 2022 in the run-off election, Lula would beat Bolsonaro, winning 50.9% of the vote.

Early life

Lula was born in Caetés, Pernambuco to Aristides Inácio da Silva and Eurídice Ferreira de Melo. He was raised Roman Catholic. Lula was raised in São Paulo. His family lived in poverty.

He did not learn to read until he was ten years old and quit school after the second grade to work and help his family.

He studied at National Service for Industrial Training to become a metalworker. He lost the little finger on his left hand at 19 in an accident, while working as a press operator. It was because of this injury, he became more active in the labor unions and labour rights movement.

Union career

Lula joined the labour movement when he worked at Villares Metals S.A.. He was elected in 1975, and reelected in 1978, as president of the Steel Workers' Union of São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema.

In the late 1970s, when Brazil was under military rule, Lula helped organize union activities, including major strikes. He was in jail for a month because under the military rule, his strikes were seen as illegal. Lula was awarded a lifetime pension after the fall of the military regime.

Legislative career

On 10 February 1980, Lula co-founded the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) or Workers' Party. That same year, he became National President of the Workers' Party and was in this role until 1988. In 1982, he added the nickname Lula to his legal name. In 1983, he helped found the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) union association.

In 1987, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. During his time as a deputy, he helped write the country's post-military rule constitution. He also focused on agricultural land reform and for fixing the country's debt. He decided not to run for re-election in 1990. He became Workers' Party President again in 1990 and he left the role in 1994.

Early presidential campaigns

Lula first ran for President of Brazil in 1989 and lost the election to Fernando Collor de Mello. He ran for president again in 1994 and came in second place again, losing to Fernando Henrique Cardoso. He would lose to Henrique Cardoso again in 1998.

First presidency

Lula with Bolivian President Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2007

In 2002, Lula was elected President of Brazil, beating José Serra in a landslide victory. In 2006, he was re-elected in another landslide victory, beating Geraldo Alckmin.

Lula created a housing aid program to fix housing problems and help people in poverty have homes.

During Lula's first term, child hunger decreased by 46%. In May 2010, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) awarded Lula da Silva the title of "World Champion in the Fight against Hunger". Lula also fixed the country's economy by fixing its debt, and help make the economy strong enough for foreign banks to make investments and profits in Brazil again.

His second term as president, focused on environmental issues and created protection programs on indigenous lands and stopped deforestation in the Amazons. However, his second term was also controversial because of the Mensalão scandal, which said that Lula da Silva's party, the Workers' Party, had bribed Deputies to support and pass pro-Lula legislation.

When he left office, Lula da Silva was extremely popular, with many calling him Brazil's most popular president and the most popular politician in the world.

2018 presidential campaign

Lula in 2015

In 2017, Lula announced he would run as the Workers' Party candidate for president again in the 2018 election. His campaign was controversial and a target of attacks. In Paraná, a campaign bus was shot, and in Rio Grande do Sul, rocks were thrown at a Lula campaign bus. Despite this, he was seen as the front-runner to win the election.

While bribe charges against Lula were being held, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled on 17 August 2018 that it had requested the Brazilian government to allow Lula to be political and run for office. Despite this, Lula was charged and was forced to withdraw his campaign.

Bribe charges and release

On July 12, 2017, the former president was convicted at first instance of corruption (more specifically, the crime of passive corruption which in Brazilian criminal law is defined by the receipt of a bribe by a civil servant or government official) and money laundering and sentenced to nine years and six months in prison by judge Sérgio Moro. This made him ineligible to run for president in the 2018 election, and he dropped out of the election.

In 2021, his sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court of Brazil and all charges were cleared and seen as politically motivated.

Second presidency (2023–present)

Lula with President of Argentina Alberto Fernández in October 2022

In May 2021, Lula stated that he would run for a third term in the October 2022 general election, against the incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, with opinion polls at the end of July 2021 suggesting he would comfortably beat Bolsonaro. He was 17% ahead of Bolsonaro in a poll in January 2022.

In April 2022, Lula announced that his running mate would be Geraldo Alckmin, a three-term governor of São Paulo state who ran against Lula in the 2006 presidential elections.

On 2 October, the vote of the first round, Lula was in first place with 48.43% of the electorate, qualifying for the second round with Bolsonaro, who received 43.20% of the votes. Lula was elected in the second round on 30 October, three days after his seventy-seventh birthday. He became the first president of Brazil elected to three terms and the first since Getúlio Vargas to serve in non-consecutive terms. He is also the first candidate to unseat an incumbent president. He was sworn in on 1 January 2023.

Lula and US President Joe Biden at the White House on 10 February 2023

Lula and the Chinese President Xi Jinping, April 2023

Lula meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, 22 June 2023

Lula said that his main commitments were: the reconstruction of the country in the face of the economic crisis; democracy, sovereignty and peace; economic development and stability; fighting poverty; education; implementation of a National System of Culture and the expansion of housing programs.

In March 2023 Lula reinforced the Bolsa Família program. The program was created during the first term of Lula and then significantly cut by Jair Bolsonaro. The program should help around 60 million Brazilians suffering from poverty. According to the World Bank estimates, the reinforced program will reduce the poverty rate in Brazil to 24.3% - the level before COVID-19 pandemic.

In August 2023, Lula announced a vast infrastructure investment program of over $350 billion over four years. Part of this sum is earmarked to finance the "My home, my life" social housing project. The program also includes 100 billion for energy and 65 billion for transport and roads. Education and health are also concerned, with the construction of schools and hospitals. The project also aims to boost economic growth and develop clean energy.

At the beginning of September, he presented a major plan to eradicate hunger, as 33 million Brazilians do not have enough to eat, and more than half the country is affected to varying degrees by some form of food insecurity. To this end, he set up a national network of food banks to prevent wastage, increased the budget allocated to school meals and increased the purchase of food from family farms to supply public canteens. These measures are part of a broader policy to build social housing and raise the minimum wage and other social benefits. The fight against world hunger is also high on the Brazilian president's international agenda.

In the first quarter of 2023 Brazilian economy grew by 1.9%. In the second quarter by 0.9%, 3 times more than expected, while many of the neighbors of Brazil saw a shrinkage in their economy. The possible reasons of this phenomenon include reduced inflation, a good harvest, and an improved credit rating.

Environment

Launch of the Global Biofuel Alliance at the 2023 G20 New Delhi summit

During his campaign Lula pledged to end illegal logging. In 2004, Lula presented a road map for curbing deforestation. It was part of a bigger plan, "The Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon", and among other goals sought to decrease deforestation in the Amazon by 80% by 2020. This plan was largely responsible for the 83% decrease in the Amazon deforestation rate in the years 2004 through 2012, but it was suspended during Bolsonaro's presidency. Lula re-affirmed the plan's goals in his third term, with a new target of zero illegal deforestation by the year 2030. The plan includes different measures for creating a sustainable economy in the Amazon region, like bioeconomy, rural credits and managed fishing.

In the first 7 months of 2023 the deforestation rate in the Amazon had fallen by 42%. In July 2023 the deforestation rate was 66% lower than in July 2022. According to Amazon Conservation's MAAP forest monitoring program, the deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon from the 1 of January to the 8 of November 2023 decreased by 59% in comparison to the same period in 2022, while Columbia, Peru and Bolivia also reduced deforestation. As a result, deforestation in the Amazon rainforest as a whole declined by 55.8%.

Aerial view of the Amazon rainforest near Manaus, Brazil

Lula pledged to recognize 14 new indigenous reserves. Six were recognized as of May 2023. Lula and the American president Joe Biden committed to work together on the issue.

In April Biden pledged to give 500 million dollars to the Amazon Fund which was frozen during the rule of Bolsonaro, Lula's predecessor, and reactivated when Lula returned to power, as a "part of the two nations' efforts to deal with climate change". According to John Kerry, the overall financial help from US to Brazil for stopping deforestation through different channels will be around 2 billion US dollars.

Several hours after Lula talked about leaving fossil fuels at COP 28, his government held an auction in which it offered 603 territorial blocks for oil extraction. The territories cover 2% of the territory of Brazil, overlap with many protected areas or areas belonging to indigenous people and can result in a release of 1 gigaton of CO2.

Personal life

Lula was married to Maria de Lurdes Ribeiro from 1969 until her death in 1971. He was later married to Marisa Letícia Lula da Silva from 1974 until her death in 2017. In 2022, he married Rosângela da Silva. Lula has five children.

Health

In 2011, Lula, who was a smoker for 40 years, was diagnosed with throat cancer. He underwent chemotherapy, leading to a successful recovery.

Honours and awards

The list of Lula's awards since 2003:

• In 2008 he was awarded the UNESCO Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize.
• In 2012 he received the Four Freedoms Award.

National honours

Ribbon bar	Honour	Date & Comment	Ref.
	Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross	2003 – automatic upon taking presidential office
	Grand Cross of the Order of Rio Branco	2003 – automatic upon taking presidential office
	Grand Cross of the Order of Military Merit	2003 – automatic upon taking presidential office
	Grand Cross of the Order of Naval Merit	2003 – automatic upon taking presidential office
	Grand Cross of the Order of Aeronautical Merit	2003 – automatic upon taking presidential office
	Grand Cross of the Order of Military Judicial Merit	2003 – automatic upon taking presidential office
	Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit	2013

State honours

Ribbon bar	Honour	Date & Comment	Ref.
	Grand Cross of the Aperipê Order of Merit	2008 – Given by Governor of Sergipe
	Grand Necklace of the Inconfidence Medal	2008 – Given by Governor of Minas Gerais

Foreign honours

Ribbon bar	Country	Honour	Date	Ref.
	Algeria	Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit	7 February 2006
	Benin	Grand Cross of the National Order of Benin	17 March 2013
	Bolivia	Collar of the Order of the Condor of the Andes	17 December 2007
	Cape Verde	Grand Cross of Amílcar Cabral Order	29 July 2004
	Colombia	Grand Collar of the Order of Boyacá	14 December 2005
	Cuba	Grand Cross of the Order of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes	20 December 2019
	Denmark	Knight of the Order of the Elephant	12 September 2007
	Ecuador	Grand Collar of the National Order of San Lorenzo	6 June 2013
	Gabon	Grand Cross of the Order of the Equatorial Star	28 July 2004
	Ghana	Companion of the Order of the Star of Ghana	13 April 2005
	Guinea-Bissau	Member of the Order of Amílcar Cabral	25 August 2010
	Guyana	Member of the Order of Excellence of Guyana	25 November 2010
	Japan	Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysantemum	18 March 2025
	Mexico	Collar of the Order of the Aztec Eagle	3 August 2007
	Norway	Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav	7 October 2003
	Norway	Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit	13 September 2007
	Palestine	Grand Collar of the State of Palestine	2010
	Panama	Grand Cross of the Order of Omar Torrijos Herrera	10 August 2007
	Paraguay	Grand Collar of the Order of Marshal Francisco Solano López	2007
	Peru	Grand Cross with Diamonds of the Order of the Sun	25 August 2003
	Portugal	Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword	5 March 2008
	Portugal	Grand Collar of the Order of Liberty	23 July 2003
	Portugal	Grand Collar of the Order of Camões	22 April 2023
	Spain	Knight of the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic	11 July 2003
	Saudi Arabia	Chain of the Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud	16 May 2009
	South Africa	Member of the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo	27 April 2011
	Sweden	Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim	11 September 2007
	Syria	Member First Class of the Order of the Umayyads	2010
	Ukraine	Member First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise	2003
	Ukraine	Member of the Order of Liberty	2009
	United Kingdom	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath	7 March 2006
	Zambia	Grand Commander of the Order of the Eagle of Zambia	2010

Foreign awards

Country	Award	Date	Ref.
Spain	Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation	October 2003
Portugal	Honoris Causa Doctor in Economics, University of Coimbra	March 2011
France	Doctor Honoris Causa, Sciences Po Paris	September 2011
Poland	Lech Wałęsa Prize	September 2011
United Kingdom	Honorary President of Young Labour (UK)	October 2018
France	Honorary citizen of Paris	March 2020
Argentina	Doctor Honoris Causa, Universidad Nacional de Rosario	May 2020
Uruguay	Más Verde Prize	January 2023
Bolivia	Key to the City of Santa Cruz de la Sierra	July 2024
United States	Global Goalkeeper Award	September 2024

In popular culture

Academy Award-nominated film director Fábio Barreto directed the 2009 Brazilian film Lula, Son of Brazil that depicts the life of Lula up to 35 years of age. The film was a commercial and critical failure. Critics charged that it was election propaganda, fostering a cult of personality.

The series The Mechanism on Netflix deals with Operation Car Wash and features a character that alludes to Lula, João Higino, played by Arthur Kohl.

The 2019 documentary The Edge of Democracy, written and directed by Petra Costa, chronicled the rise and fall of Lula and Dilma Rousseff and the socio-political upheaval in Brazil during the period.

See also

In Spanish: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva para niños