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| Became President: | January 1, 2003 |
| Predecessor: | Fernando Henrique Cardoso |
| Date of Birth: | October 27, 1945 |
| Place of Birth: | Garanhuns, Pernambuco State |
| Party: | Workers' Party |
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (born October 27, 1945) is a left-wing Brazilian politician. Lula gained election 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 factoryA factory (previously manufactory is a large industrial building where goods or products are manufactured. Most factories are large warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production. History of the factory The world'. Around the same time, he became involved in unionA union labor union in American English; trade union sometimes trades union in British English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers in a parti activities and held several important union posts. The right-wing dictatorship of Brazil in this era strongly suppressed union activities, and Lula's 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, formed to address workers' concerns. In 1982 he added the nickname "Lula" to his legal name.
In 1986, Lula won election to a seat in Brazil's Congress with a record percentage of the votes. The Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) helped to write the country's post-dictatorship constitution, ensuring strong constitutional guarantees for workers' rights, but failing to gain redistribution of rural agricultural land.
In 1989, Lula stood as the PT presidential candidate. He proved popular with a wide spectrum of Brazilian society, but was feared as an opponent by business owners and financial interests, and lost the election. His party was formed by left-center wing social-democrats as well as Trotskyite socialists, which also earned him the distrust of better-off sectors in Brazilian society.
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 had very much worried 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.