Lula of Brazil. Richard Bourne

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       LULA

      OF BRAZIL

       THE STORY SO FAR

      RICHARD BOURNE

       UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

      BERKELEY LOS ANGELES

      University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.

      University of California Press

      Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

      © 2008 by The Regents of the University of California

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Bourne, Richard.

       Lula of Brazil : the story so far / Richard Bourne.

       p. cm.

       Includes bibliographical references and index.

       ISBN: 978-0-520-24663-8 (cloth : alk. paper)

       1. Lula, 1945- 2. Brazil—Politics and government—2003- 3. Brazil—Politics and government—19852002 4. Presidents—Brazil—Biography. I. Title.

      F2538.5.L5B68 2007

      981.06092—dc22

      [B]

      2007024079

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      This book is printed on Natures Book, which contains 50% postconsumer waste and meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).

      For Emily, Daniel, Max, James, and Isabel, my grandchildren, who will know another Brazil

      CONTENTS

       List of Illustrations

       Preface and Acknowledgments

       1. A Tough Start in Life

       2. Strike Leader

       3. The PT, the Workers' Party

       4. Persistent Candidate for the Presidency

       5. Overview of the First Term

       6. Domestic Policy

       7. International and Economic Policy

       8. Corruption and Scandal

       9. The Elections of 2006

       10. Lula So Far: An Interim Assessment

       Notes

       Select Bibliography

       Index

      ILLUSTRATIONS

      (following page 162)

       1. Approximate birthplace of Lula, Caetés, 2005

       2. Lula with Dona Lindu and family on the beach at Santos

       3. Lula as a teenager on a soccer team

       4. Lula at his wedding to Marisa, 1974

       5. Lula at a metalworkers' strike meeting in São Bernardo, 1979

       6. Lula at the negotiating table, 1979

       7. Killing time playing cards during the 1980 strike

       8. Lula with José Dirceu, 2001

       9. Lula after voting in the 2002 presidential election

       10. Lula with President George W. Bush, 2002

       11. Lula with President Fidel Castro at the Havana airport, 2003

       12. Lula with Marisa and Oscar Niemeyer outside the Palácio Alvorada, Brasília, 2005

       13. Lula with Marisa at the Taj Mahal, 2005

       14. Lula with President Hugo Chávez, 2006

      PREFACE AND

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      I have to start with a confession: I lost my heart to Brazil at the age of nearly twenty-five, in 1965, when I was lucky enough to win a scholarship to spend six months in Brazil, theoretically linked to the Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro but in reality free to work as an independent journalist. The scholarship was awarded by the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, the Itamaraty, and was handled on behalf of the Brazilian Embassy in London by the British Council. At the time, I was a staff reporter for The Guardian, which generously gave me a leave of absence.

      The period was exciting for a young journalist interested in politics. The military government that had overthrown President Goulart had not quite congealed into the brutal regime it became later, and there was still active civilian opposition and a relatively free press. Over the following decade I made further visits, collecting material for three books. Then, in the early 1980s, my own career took a different turn. I left journalism and immersed myself in the affairs of the Commonwealth of Nations, undertaking a series of different activities.

      It was only in 2005, when I was due to retire from the last of these, the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit at London University, that I was free to return to a Brazilian topic. The extraordinary and controversial life of Lula, the president of Brazil since the beginning of 2003, beckoned as a subject for a life-and-times biography.

      What follows, therefore, is an attempt to provide a readable account of the current Brazilian president, set against the recent history of his country. The questions asked here relate not only to the unprecedented arrival in the presidency of an industrial worker who grew up poor, with many disadvantages, but also to the democratization of Brazil after the military was forced out; a new kind of leftist party built on a renewed union movement; the difficulties of progressive politics in an era of globalization and the free movement of capital; corrupt aspects of the Brazilian political system; and the ambition of Lula and many others that