Friday, December 25th 2009 - 15:43 UTC

Le Monde names Brazil’s Lula da Silva as “Man of the Year”

French daily Le Monde named Brazilian President Lula da Silva “Man of the Year” for “personifying a giant”. It is the first time in its history the French publication has made this designation.

Lula: “The most popular politician in the world”

Lula da Silva, who is leaving his term of office in 2010 without performing an amendment to Brazilian Constitution, “knew exactly how to be a democratic figure and fight against poverty” Le Monde depicts in its article.

The newspaper described him as “a referent to emerging countries and also to the developing world.” Lula da Silva, 64, has, according to the French publication, “positioned his country in the world.”

The Brazilian president will be leaving his term of office at the end of 2010, without intending to perform a constitutional amendment and, thanks to this, being unable to get re-elected. Le Monde portrays him as the one president who was able to “offer a new image to Latin America.” And adds: “Lula's excellent reputation is Brazil's renovation.”

The article, written by Rio de Janeiro news correspondent Jean Pierre Langellier, outlines Lula da Silva's profile and praises his administration. “Lula seems to be interested in everything: diplomacy, commerce, energy, climate, immigration, space, drugs”, the articles describes.

Lula da Silva was the first Latinamerican president Barack Obama received in the White House. According to Le Monde's view, he came ahead because the former union leader has successfully directed a country that is complex, focusing on economic development, inequality and the protection of the environment. Obama referred to him “as the most popular politician in the world”.

The profile the article describes includes pros and cons. As it states: “Even though Lula da Silva has cut poverty figures and millions of Brazilians have improved their ways of living, his country remains to be one of the most unbalanced nations in the world, strongly divided between a rich south and a forgotten north.”

A to-do list and “unresolved matter issues” are also included in Le Monde's article. Those are: “Primary and secondary low-level education, deficient health care system, heavy bureaucracy, inefficient police and a lazy justice.”

Lula da Silva has been in the media spotlight all through 2009, thanks to his policies and the way in which he has positioned Brazil in the international focus.

Published in: Politics, Brazil, International.

4 comments Feed

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1 Jose Pichone (#) Dec 26th, 2009 - 11:53 pm Report abuse
Please, asks to 8,3 million pensioners of Brazil, because they think that Lula is “ Worse man of the year, wy not to say of last 7 years.” It speaks in human rights and maltreats the aged ones, in the age that they more need support. Do you mind is this that what a good man could do?
2 LH (#) Dec 27th, 2009 - 02:02 am Report abuse
I imagine there still is a lot to do in Brazil. A big country, with big problems, and a horrible history of conservative governments (before Lula) who never dedicated enough time to resolve social matters like this. However, it is too ambitious to expect from any President (Lula or whoever might be) to fix the big mess created by the previous conservative parties all at once. Maybe people need to appreciate more all the positive things that have been done so far, rather than focusing on the negatives. There is no perfect political system in this World, because there aren't perfect humans to start with. Happy 2010 to everyone!
3 Les Fontenelle (#) Dec 31st, 2009 - 02:11 am Report abuse
Despite the protests from the right-wingers who resent the fact that Lula was ever elected at all, and for whom Le Monde's well-deserved homage was a slap on their faces, Lula remains massively popular, supported by over 70% of the Brasilian electorate. Despite all the fearmongering from his enemies, who said that Lula would destroy the economy and erode the institutions, he did more to improve the lives of the poorest citizens than any other president in Brasil's history.
4 Nicholas (#) Jan 03rd, 2010 - 01:54 pm Report abuse
Jose, Brazil should privatize it's social security system. It is as similar like the US “legal ponzi scheme”. Second, just like the US, Brazil should reform it's tax system what will boost/transform Brazil's economy. Third, Lula is a socialist, but ruled with “social conservative” policies, same as Liar Billy (Bill Clinton) did. Brazil has a long way to go, but compare to other nations in Latin America, it did terrific and still does.

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