Word: lula
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Within days of taking power in January 2003, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva flew his team of ministers to the three poorest municipalities in Brazil - he wanted the political elite to take a firsthand look at the living conditions of the impoverished voters that had elected them. On a makeshift stage in Brazil's northern scrubland, Lula, like a triumphant band leader, presented his troupe one by one. The crowd welcomed them all politely, but cheered raucously for Benedita da Silva, the black, former housemaid who picked to oversee Lula's social programs, for Culture Minister Gilberto...
...biggest Catholic country, was dressed in a skirt down her ankles, and she appeared somber and unmoved by the attention, as though she felt unworthy of such acclaim. But the poor voters had cheered her because she was one of them. She was also a potent symbol of both Lula's all-inclusive government and his stated commitment to protecting the environment...
...symbolism went the same way as 17% of the Amazon, when Silva resigned her post and disappeared from view. Although she had looked increasingly worn down by the recent power struggles with governors and ministers who prioritize economic development over environmental protection, her decision was unexpected, and it left Lula and the mandarins of Brasilia stunned...
...Marina's resignation underlines the carelessness with which Lula's government is handling the environmental agenda and the protection of the Amazon," said Paulo Adario, Greenpeace's Amazon campaign coordinator. "Marina takes all of Lula's environmental credibility with her, credibility which she has brought to his government over the last five years. Without her, King Lula is completely naked...
...Silva did have some success in what is a notoriously thankless brief. Her presence gave the ministry a credibility and visibility it had previously lacked, and she did well to slash deforestation to the same level as it had been in the early 1990s, and to convince Lula to set aside 12 million hectares as protected areas, 50 percent more than the previous government...