Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva created change in Brazil in many positive ways. Before his term in office as the president of Brazil, Lula was elected as president of the Steel workers Union of São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema. He organized many major events including strikes during his time as president for the Steel Workers Union. Luiz had then become a congress member. This was his chance to prove to the people he was able to be a helpful asset to them. During his term in congress he strongly supported the workers class movement. Since Lula has been president, he has accomplished many goals. To fully understand his impact on Brazil, it is important to go over his life accomplishments.
In 1975 Lula was elected as president of the Steel Workers Union of São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema. During his time in office for the Steel Workers Union he was responsible for the organizations for strikes and many other activities. Lula was arrested shortly after the strikes began. He later spent around a month in jail, but then was release due to protests. Lula had been the President of the Central Única dos Trabalhadores for many years after. This was a union federation that is influenced by the Partido dos Trabalhadores. This affected his process in which he was to become the president of Brazil in a very positive way. He was already known for his leadership and willingness to get things accomplished; clearly this meant that he would benefit the people of Brazil.
During Lula’s political career in the early 90’s he joined a campaign that was for the impeachment of the president Fernando Collor de Mello. This was because he wanted to help get Fernando impeached after there had been a series of scandals involving public funds. After many years Fernando had returned to the senate. Because of this Lula had then brought him into his “allied base”. This “allied base” was a group of parties of politicians that Lula had attacked politically before his election to the presidency of Brazil. Also during his political career Lula first ran for an office in the early 80’s. He ran for the state government of São Paulo. Lula lost this election, but this was not the last time he would run for office. Shortly after his loss he won a seat in congress that gave him another step towards the presidency. In the late 80’s’ still in congress Lula decided to run for the PT presidential candidate. His party was formed and is known as “loose confederacy of trade unionists, grassroots activists, left-wing Catholics, left-center social democrats, and small Trotskyist grouping. Lula’s party earned him the distrust of “better-off Brazilians”. This was because of the ability of the PT to have presented its self as a working class mass movement organized as grassroots. Since Lula had been involved in the Workers Class Party he had decided not to run in the re-election as congressman. Instead he decided to run for president in 1994 and 1998. In 1994 he lost to the former ex-minister of Finance, Fernando Cardoso. He also lost the election in 1998. Finally, in 2003 Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was elected president of Brazil, defeating Jose Serra.
During his presidency, Lula has done many social projects and received many awards. Since being elected, Lula has put social programs at the top of his to-do list. Lula’s main project has been to eradicate hunger. This program brings together a series of programs with the goal to end hunger in Brazil. The creation of water cisterns in Brazil’s semi-arid region of Sertão. Also actions to counter juvenile pregnancy, to strengthen family agriculture, to distribute a minimum amount of cash to the poor, and many others. In March 2006, The Economist wrote that “Lula has a pragmatic foreign policy, seeing himself as a negotiator, not an ideologue. As a result, he has befriended both Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and former U.S. President George W. Bush.” Leading a large and competitive agricultural state, Lula generally opposes and criticizes farm subsidies. During the Lula administration, Brazilian foreign trade has dramatically increased, changing from deficits to several surpluses since 2003. In 2004 the surplus reached $29 billion due to a substantial increase in global demand for commodities. Brazil has also provided UN peace-keeping troops and leads a peace-keeping mission in Haiti. Another major goal of Lula’s foreign policy has been for the country to gain a seat as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. So far the attempts have been unsuccessful.(3) Since Lula has been President of Brazil, he has received numerous medals. Some of these include the Brazilian Order of Merit, the Brazilian Orders of Military, Naval and Aeronautical Merit, the Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit, the Norwegian Order of Royal Merit the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle and the Order of the Southern Cross. He has also received the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in 2003 and was the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebration in 2004. Next, in December 2008, Lula was named the 18th most important person in the world by Newsweek magazine. He was the only Latin American person featured in a list of 50 most influential World leaders. In 2009, Lula was chosen as the Man of the Year by two European newspapers El País and Le Monde. The Financial Times ranks Lula among the 50 faces that shaped the 2000’s.
In conclusion, one can see Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is a very important figure in Brazil. From Lula’s early days as president of the Steel workers Union of São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema, one could see his great leadership skills while forming the strikes. Lula never gave up trying to be president and it payed off. As president, Lula has accomplished many goals, and has focused on many social projects to help Brazil. Lula has received many awards for his achievements and was even named one of the most important people on earth. Lula has earned the right to be called a great politician.