Brazil’s Poor Love Lula. And They May Be His and Rousseff’s Salvation

On a hilly, scorched plot of farmland in Brazil’s destitute northeast, there’s a replica of the mud-and-stick-walled hut where Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who went on to serve two terms as president, was born. It’s in places like this, where emaciated cattle graze on sunbaked scrub, that Lula and his hand-picked successor, Dilma Rousseff, are mustering their forces to fight Rousseff’s impeachment and defuse multiple corruption scandals.

Lula, perhaps Brazil’s most popular leader ever, spent his first seven years in the hut with his mother and six siblings. There was no electricity or running water, no proper bathroom or shoes. In 1952, the family piled onto a truck for a one-way, 13-day journey to São Paulo. Millions made this exodus south in the 20th century as government after government failed to provide enough relief from drought and hunger. Lula sold peanuts on the street, worked in factories, was jailed by dictators for leading a union, and founded the now ruling Workers’ Party.