Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Portuguese pronunciation: ; born 27 October 1945), known popularly as Lula, is the thirty-fifth and current President of Brazil.

A founding member of the Workers' Party (PT), he ran for President three times unsuccessfully, first in the 1989 election. Lula achieved victory in 2002, and was inaugurated as President on 1 January 2003. In the 2006 election he was re-elected, extending his term as President until 1 January 2011.

Luiz Inácio da Silva was born on 27 October 1945 in Caetés (then a district of Garanhuns), located 250 km from Recife, capital of Pernambuco. He was the seventh of eight children of Aristides Inácio da Silva and Eurídice Ferreira de Melo. Two weeks after Lula's birth, his father moved to Santos with Valdomira Ferreira de Góis, a cousin of Eurídice.