Word: lula
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was 40,000 feet in the air on Sept. 21, en route to the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, when he got the news. Exiled Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, after sneaking back into his Central American country, had shown up at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa seeking refuge. Lula, like every other world leader, has called for Zelaya's restoration ever since the Honduran was ousted by a military coup on June 28, so he had little choice but to let him into the embassy. But when Lula arrived...
...wing Latin American leaders like Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who publicly boasted that it was he who'd urged Zelaya to go to the Brazilian mission. Whether or not that's true - and many in the Brazilian media "are skeptical that this could have happened without the Lula government giving Zelaya some sort of signal that he would be welcome" at the embassy, says Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. - Brasília finds itself in the kind of diplomatic spotlight it once shunned. Chávez never misses...
...from Chavez and, contrary to Chavez's statements this week that he advised Zelaya to take refuge with the Brazilians, tells TIME the Venezuelan President did not know he was headed to that embassy. "No one knew," says Zelaya. "I'm a great friend of [Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva], who has given me a lot of support, so going there was a sensible thing...
...Lula has a point, but as the former union leader knows, life isn't always fair. If it were, then Rio, while a front runner, would be in a stronger position to win next Friday's decision and edge out Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo. It can claim experience: Rio hosted the Pan American Games in 2007, an event that should have transformed the still sometimes provincial resort into a more modern, more international and safer city. (See pictures of São Paulo...
...projects, was described as "detailed and of a very high quality" by the games committee in its most recent report. Another upside is that Rio has a well-deserved reputation as one of the world's most stunningly beautiful and welcoming cities. The third upside is the one that Lula and Rio officials have been hammering home: that fair is fair; that this is South America's turn. It is a valid argument. South America deserves its chance. But it also needs someone to make sure it keeps its promises...