Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (born October 27, 1945) is a Brazilian former trade union leader and politician, who served as President of Brazil from 1 January 2003 to 1 January 2011.

Sourced

• "I am the son of an illiterate father and mother" (In August 2005 speech [1])

• "Brazil is in a solid position. In the past, if the United States sneezed, we caught pneumonia. Today, if the United States sneezes, we sneeze too." (Financial Times, July 7, 2006 [2])

• "The foundation is in place, and now we have to get to work." – about his second term as president (October 29, 2006 [3])

• "If the US is the country that most contributes with greenhouse gases, in the world, it should assume more responsibility to reduce emissions" (The Guardian, May 31, 2007 [4])

• "A long time ago I learned not to put the blame for backwardness in Brazil on the US. We have to blame ourselves. Our backwardness is caused by an elite which for a century didn't think about the majority and subordinated itself to foreign interests." (The Guardian, May 31, 2007 [5])

• This is a crisis that was caused by people, white with blue eyes. And before the crisis they looked as if they knew everything about economics.
  • At a 2009 G-20 London Summit in March 2009.
  • Financial crisis 'caused by white men with blue eyes, by Andrew Grice, The Independent, 27 March 2009

• "I want to know if the people are in the shit and I want to take the people out of the shit in which they are." – during a speech in São Luís, the capital of the Brazilian state of Maranhão. After recognizing he cursed, he stated: "Of course I cursed. Tomorrow, commentators of the major newspapers will say that Lula cursed, but I'm aware that they curse more than I do everyday, and I'm aware of how the poor people of this country live." "Quero tirar o povo da merda", diz Lula; watch - Folha de S. Paulo

• "Look, my friend. I don't speak the language here, I've got no money, the food stinks, there's no rice, no beans. I'd rather be arrested in Brazil than stay in this dump of a country."

After being advised to stay in the United States when his brother was arrested in Brazil as a communist subversive, 1975. [6]

Unsourced

• "This is a government that has not been putting the dirt under the carpet." (June 23, 2005, during a nationally televised speech)

• "The government tries to do what's easy because what's hard is hard."(June 17, 2004 in a speech)

• "Thank you Fidel Castro. Thank you for you existed". (Opening speech during Foro de São Paulo meeting in Havana.)

• "Hope has defeated fear." (After his victory in 2002 Presidential elections in Brazil)

• "Give me a chance as President and I will do in 4 years what the elite didn't do in 40." (In Juiz de Fora, August 1994)

External links

• President Bush Welcomes President Lula of Brazil to Camp David