Lula government

The Lula government comprises the two terms of office of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from 2003 to 2010.

His administration lifted thousands of people out of absolute poverty, but was marred by cases of corruption such as the mensalão .

Despite this, Lula managed to elect his successor, former minister Dilma Rousseff.

Economy in Lula's Government

The Lula government continued the economic policy of its predecessor, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Keeping inflation under control and the real stable continued to be the government's priority.

Lula also counted on the favorable scenario abroad when China and India began to grow, open their markets and consume more. This generated an increase in exports of Brazilian raw materials and commodities.

Likewise, when the economic crisis began in 2008 in the United States and Europe, Brazil was not hit hard. The government has reduced certain taxes, such as the Tax on Industrialized Products (IPI), which levies on home appliances, for example.

Thus, the industries did not pass the increase on to the consumer, making the domestic market help to keep the Brazilian economy stable.

Because of this crisis and the good moment that the Brazilian economy was going through, foreign businessmen and workers began to come to Brazil to invest and try to make a living here.

During this period, the Pan American Games (2007) were also held with a view to winning the right to host the Olympic Games.

Brazil managed to have its candidacy approved to host the World Cup (2010), the Military Games (2011), the World Games of Indigenous Peoples (2015), and the Olympics and Paralympics (2016).

The construction of stadiums and infrastructure necessary to host these events impacted the local economy. Likewise, they contributed to projecting the image of a prosperous and stable Brazil abroad.

Growth Acceleration Program

In 2007, the government launched the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) in order to improve the country's infrastructure.

President Lula chooses Minister Dilma Rousseff to lead this plan and thus increase its visibility and be able to build a strong candidacy in the 2010 presidential elections.

Later, the program was expanded to reach other areas that needed attention, such as childhood, housing and historic cities. The money to fund these programs would come from the federal government and private companies.

These contractors, in order to obtain contracts and win bids, paid bribes to deputies and senators. On certain occasions, politicians themselves charged some kind of bribe to release works. This would become one of the biggest scandals of the Lula government that would be discovered during the Dilma government.

Social Programs in Lula's Government

In his inaugural speech in 2003, President Lula recalled that many Brazilian citizens were not yet able to have three meals a day. Therefore, he called on everyone to join the fight against hunger.

Thus, the government started several social programs, whose main star would be the Bolsa-Família (2004) where the income was transferred directly to the families.

Beneficiaries should meet certain requirements, such as having a monthly income of 85 to 175 reais, having pregnant women or children aged 0 to 17 years among family members. The amount received by families ranged from 35 to 176 reais per month. In return, the family would commit to keeping the children in school and going to the doctor regularly.

This program was one of the government's greatest successes, as extreme poverty was reduced by 75% in Brazil between 2001 and 2014, according to data from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).

Although he has been criticized by the opposition as patronizing, the fact is that many families were able to gain access to food, school supplies and clothing for the first time.

Education in Lula's Government

For education, the Lula government prepared a plan that sought to democratize access to school at all levels and throughout the national territory. Fundeb was created (2007) to help finance and expand basic education.

In higher education, it promoted the expansion of scholarships for master's and doctoral degrees, with the aim of increasing the number of qualified professors at universities by 5%.

The access of the poorest strata of the population to higher education was expanded through the system of social and racial quotas adopted by 20 federal universities in 14 states.

In 2009, the Unified Selection System (Sisu) was created.

With this, a student from any state in the country has the opportunity to attend a federal university in another, without the need to take another exam.

The government would still open 14 new federal universities to increase vacancies. However, at the same time, it allowed private universities to grow thanks to programs to finance public scholarships in private universities through the Prouni (University for All Program) created in 2005.

Foreign Policy in Lula's Government

In the field of foreign policy, the Lula government promoted visits to several countries. He also participated in international forums such as the one in Davos and the G-20, where Lula supported Russia's entry into this body.

In addition, it maintained a cooperation agenda with countries such as China, India, Russia and South Africa, which resulted in the BRICS economic alliance.

In international relations, South American countries were privileged through the strategic approach between Presidents Lula, Néstor Kirchner and Hugo Chávez. This alliance had more pragmatic objectives – construction of refineries, investments in Argentina – than ideological ones.

Africa was also the target of political approximation, as attested by the 19 embassies opened on this continent, followed by an increase in trade. In 2002, Brazil's exchanges with the continent totaled US$ 5 billion; in 2008, it rose to US$ 26 billion.

Lula also forgave the foreign debt of several African countries, including Nigeria, in order to promote South-South cooperation.

All these measures were aimed at forcing reform at the UN and achieving a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Despite the effort, Brazil did not obtain the desired position, but saw trade increase with almost all the countries with which it had relations.

At the end of his term, Lula would lead the most controversial moment of his foreign policy when he received the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in Brasilia, in 2009.

Corruption Scandal:Mensalão

The monthly allowance was a system of illicit payments that the federal government used to guarantee the support of deputies and senators in voting on laws and amendments favorable to the government.

The scheme was discovered through hidden camera footage when a director of the Post Office explains to two businessmen how bids were rigged. In this scheme, the deputy and president of the PTB, Roberto Jefferson, who was an ally of the government, would participate.

From that moment on, a series of investigations were carried out and the CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiries) was instituted, which covered several allies of the Lula government.

Congressman Roberto Jefferson himself accused PT treasurer Delúbio Soares of making payments to some deputies of the National Congress. These payments were called "mensalão", as they were made monthly.

The denunciations overthrew the Minister of the Civil House, José Dirceu; and Congressman Roberto Jefferson was declared ineligible for 10 years.

Another PT deputy, João da Cunha, was accused of participating in this plot, but resigned as deputy before any accusations against him were formalized.

Lula's Prison

After the end of his term, former president Lula dedicated himself to giving lectures abroad and remained discreetly behind the scenes of the Dilma government.

However, the allegations of corruption began to be investigated by Judge Sérgio Moro. Lula was accused of receiving help from the company OAS to renovate a triplex located in Guarujá in exchange for favors.

Despite claiming that the triplex did not belong to him, the former representative was sentenced to 9 years in prison for passive corruption and money laundering. Subsequently, he would have his sentence increased to fourteen years.

On April 7, 2018, Lula entered the prison in Curitiba to serve his sentence, where he remained for 580 days. On November 8, 2019, he was released, as the Federal Supreme Court ruled that his second-instance arrest was unconstitutional.