Quotes from Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

It is a coup because while the Brazilian Constitution allows for impeachment, it's necessary for the person to have committed what we call high crimes and misdemeanors. And President Dilma did not commit a high crime nor misdemeanor. Therefore, what is happening is an attempt by some to take power by disrespecting the popular vote.

I took office as president in January 2003, and in April 2003, I sent to Congress my first proposal for tax reform. Some parts were voted on, with respect to federal taxes, and then it came to a standstill. Why? Because each state is interested in its own tax reform, has its own tax policy, and each state has its federal deputies and senators.

I have suggested that Brazilian enterprises invest in Uruguay and Paraguay. These are small economies, so some things can be produced in these countries that will give them greater and more equitable involvement in the Mercosur game.

What most surprises me about Brazil is the extent of the difficulties that we create for ourselves. We create a lot of legislation to control the Brazilian state itself, that this ends up meaning that things don't go with the speed any head of government would like.

Where there is hunger there is no hope. There is only desolation and pain. Hunger nurtures violence and fanaticism. A world where people starve will never be safe

Without Messi there isn't a team for Argentina, Messi is brilliant, different, with a strong mentality. Let's hope he doesn't change.

My greatest desire is that the hope that has overcome fear in my country will help vanquish it around the world.

All countries have problems with China's economic power.

If, at the end of my mandate, all Brazilians have the possibility to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, I will have fulfilled the mission of my life.

Well-fed people can enhance their dignity, their health and their learning capacity. Putting resources into social programs is not expenditure. It is investment.

When President Kirchner complains, I often sympathise with him, because Argentina was deindustrialised, and it is perfectly normal for the president of a country to try to get industry back.

I believe together, with the OAS, everybody condemned the coup d'etat, and everybody is demanding that President Zelaya should go back to the presidency, and they should call for general elections and realize an election. That's what we want. And I believe that President Obama made the right decisions condemning the coup d'etat.

The thing is that we live in a presidential system with a parliamentary constitution. Congress has a lot of weight in Brazil, and the president cannot always do when he wants; he does what he can.

If there was one last thing I could do in my life, it would be to help Dilma turn this country around, with the decency that the Brazilian public deserves.

Everyone is innocent unless proven otherwise.

I learned during my term and in the presidency that we should not discuss about assumptions or insinuations. If one day I have to do something against the U.S., the first one to get to know what I was going to do would be the president of the U.S.

In my opinion, the Doha Round is the most important thing that we can do to reduce inequalities, create opportunities, and develop the poorest countries, face up to the struggle against terrorism and strengthen democracy.

The financial system has to be regulated, we have to end with the tax havens, and it's necessary that the central banks in the world should control a little bit the banks' financing because they cannot bypass a certain range of leverage.

Here in Davos, it is generally assumed that there is now only one god - the market.

Latin America is convinced that, starting with South America, our way forward is to consolidate the process of integration: not theoretical integration - the integration of speeches - but physical integration, with infrastructure, with roads, with railways, with communications, with energy.

You're going to be hearing a lot about one scrappy president.

I know what unemployment means because I was unemployed for one-and-a-half years, and I know the drama that the worker and unemployed worker faces. I know the world of the labor union better than I think anyone else does.

No one has to agree with everything that someone else says. But in state-to-state relations, we have to understand that we can help each other much more doing it that way. We have to be more generous.

It is important to remember that I am not in the G-8; I am just an invited guest.