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News > Latin America

Lula Turns 74 in Prison over Unjust Convictions

  • Supporters of former president Lula protest his imprisnment in fron of the prison center were he has been held since April last year.

    Supporters of former president Lula protest his imprisnment in fron of the prison center were he has been held since April last year. | Photo: Twitter / @LemusteleSUR

Published 27 October 2019
Opinion

He has been imprisoned twice. The first time in 1980, when he was detained under the full military dictatorship for 31 days for "undermining the national order."

The former president and leader of the Workers' Party (PT) of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva turned 74 on Sunday, October 27, as he serves multiple prison sentences over corruption charges that were based on shaky evidence in an unfair trial.

Lula was born in 1945, in the city of Garanhung, in the state of Pernambuco, in northeastern Brazil and at the age of seven, he migrated, with his family, to the state of Sao Paulo, city of Guarujá, in search of work opportunities. He started working at 12 years of age in different activities, such as shoeshiner and a mail person. At age 14 he entered a metallurgical company. 

At age 17, on a day of night work, Lula lost the pinky finger of his left hand, with a mechanical winch. In one of his speeches as president, Lula commented said of the incident: "... As I was a pawn, I arrived at three o'clock in the morning smelling like a work monkey, smelling like grease. The doctor looked me in the face and said: ' Why does a little kid need 10 fingers? I'm going to take it off. 'And he cut off my pinky finger."

He has been imprisoned twice. The first time in 1980, when he was detained under the full military dictatorship for 31 days for "undermining the national order."
 
"In the city of Lava Jato this morning instead of saying "good morning," everyone says "Lula Livre". The dialectic of Curitiba."
 

In 1968, two years after the military dictatorship was imposed in Brazil, Lula made contact with the union life and that same year his older brother, Frei Chico, a member of the Brazilian Communist Party, was arrested and tortured by the military. There began his iron struggle for human rights. In 1975 he was elected president of the Union of Metallurgists of Sao Bernando and Diadema.

Lula has shown his fondness for football and is a fan of the Sports Club Corinthians of São Paulo. During his first presidential term in 2003, he launched the Statute of the Amateur, to make the publication of sold ticket numbers and numbers of attendees mandatory, as well as to attend suggestions and complaints from the parties. 

"Now: In front of the Federal Police building in Curitiba, where the former president is imprisoned"
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Before coming finally taking office, Lula had three tries at the presidential seat. However, it was only in the elections of October 27, 2002, that he was elected in the second round with 61 percent of the vote. He is the first worker president of the South American country. 

He has been imprisoned twice. The first time in 1980, when he was detained under the full military dictatorship for 31 days for "undermining the national order." Then, in April 2018, he was arrested for alleged corruption with a sentence of 12 years and 11 months in prison. Legal experts and his supporters argue that the charges were political as the prosecution had struggled to present concrete evidence against him.

Also, recent exclusive reports by The Intercept media outlet revealed leaked conversations between judges and prosecutors in charge of the Lula case, showing that his arrest and subsequent conventions were an effort to prevent him from standing as a candidate in the 2018 elections. 

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