Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on January 2nd, 2012
Hi, old friend! Obama and Rousseff in Brasilia in March. [Roberto Stuckert Filho/PR]

In one of her last official appearances of 2011, on December 22, Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s president, arrived in a sweltering gymnasium in downtown Sao Paulo to give a speech to a few hundred working-class social activists.

In her speech, she mentioned “Lula” more than 10 times.

At one point the audience briefly broke into chants of “Lula, Lula, Lula!”

Lula wasn’t even present.

“Lula” is Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the wildly popular and charismatic former president of this country.

This is the man who in 2009 told a ballroom of CEOs at a regional World Economic Forum meeting in Rio de Janeiro he was going to scrap the speech his advisors had prepared and instead gave a blistering and empassioned critique of how the rich, developed nations were resonsible for the global economic mess and it was poor all over the world paying the price.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on November 16th, 2011
Lula shaves his iconic beard.

I was once at a dinner party in the United States not too long ago, when a guest asked me a simple, straight-forward question: “Is that guy with the beard still the president down there in Brazil?”

The guy with the beard.

I chucked, and answered, no, the bearded guy is no longer president. It’s now a woman. The guest, who admitted to not following Brazil news that closely, gave me a quizzical look and then I think the conversation quickly moved on to the weather or something like that.  

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Lula da Silva and his famous beard when he was president of Brazil [Getty] 

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on February 21st, 2011
Photo by GALLO/GETTY

At the glistening corporate high-rise headquarters of a few giant Brazilian companies, it’s a good bet some executives are sweating right now as they watch with keen interest events unfold in Libya.

Brazil’s biggest and most influential engineering and construction companies are also some of the most important players in construction projects in the northern African country that is now embroiled in a bloody citizen uprising against the 40-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi.

Now many of these Brazilian companies are scrambling to figure out if they should get their workers out of the country, and wondering if potentially billions of dollars in business deals are at risk.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on September 29th, 2010
Photo by Reuters

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won’t be on the ballot on Sunday when 136 million Brazilians cast a vote for president, but his famous Lula name will be – it just won’t be the president himself.

Meet Luiz da Silva. Not the president. But the candidate for the federal deputy from Lula’s Workers Party.

Not only is his name almost identical to that of the Brazilian president, but he even has the same thick beard and portly stature. His deep, scratchy voice is almost identical too. And he is even missing part of a finger just like President Lula da Silva.

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Luiz 'Lula' da Silva, candidate for congress, and the man who looks a lot like the popular Brazilian president. Photo: Tatiana Polastri/Al Jazeera.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on September 24th, 2010
Jose Rufino Sobrinho. Photo: Maria Elena Romero/Al Jazeera

By the nature of our job, as journalists we often have to tell stories about what is broken and not working in the world.

So it comes as a nice divergence to be able to tell a story about something that is not broken and functioning quite well. 

That is what brought me to the small city of Mirandiba, Brazil, recently.

With a population of 13,810, the town is in the interior of Pernambuco state - roughly 500km inland from the capital of Recife.

Mirandiba is one of the poorest cities in all of Brazil, where 76 per cent of the population live on less than half of the minimum monthly salary.

There is almost no industry to speak of there.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on August 28th, 2010

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A campaign poster in Brasilia shows how strongly Dilma Rousseff is linking her campaign with the legacy of Pres. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Photo: Maria Elena Romero/Al Jazeera.

 

Brazil is leaning heavily towards electing the country's first female president.

Dilma Rousseff has never been elected to public office, but the polls indicate her first such position could be the most important one in Brazil: President. Mrs President.

By Lucia Newman in Americas on May 17th, 2010
Photo by AFP

Whether or not the Iranian uranium swap deal just bartered by Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (with Turkey's co-operation) lays the grandwork for an ultimate solution to the conflict, it is worth noting those who were laughing at President Lula last week are not laughing anymore.

The US state department and others in the G8 and in Brazil, had been ridiculing President Lula for even attempting to mediate in the conflict.

"He's letting Brazil's emerging power status get to his head" and "He thinks he's playing in the majdor leagues!", a top level US state department official recently mocked.

In Brasilia, respected analysts such as Andre Cesar told me that he thought Lula's "inflated ego" was the driving force for his involvement in messy issues like Iran and Palestine, adding that he risked making a fool of himself.

"What makes Lula think that he can succeed where the United States, Russia and France failed?" critics asked.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on May 15th, 2010
Photo from EPA

 Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is making a visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran on May 15-17 for meetings with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others. The trip comes on the heels of Ahmadinejad’s visit to Brasilia in November of last year.

Lula has been outspoken in his belief that Iran has a right to peaceful nuclear energy, and his desire that the international community avoid new sanctions against Iran. Lula’s trip to Tehran could represent for the international community its last, best shot at a negotiated solution before the UN takes up a vote on new sanctions.

Brazil is taking a leading diplomatic role in a dicey international issue that sits outside its normal sphere of diplomatic influence.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on April 25th, 2010

lulaafp565.jpg

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on February 6th, 2010
Photo by EPA

On the first Sunday in October Brazilians will go to the polls to decide who will get the task of trying to replace Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as the next president of South America's largest and most influential country.

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