1Birth
Luiz Inácio da Silva was born on 27 October 1945 (registered with a date of birth of 6 October 1945) in Caetés (then a district of Garanhuns), located 250 km (150 miles) from Recife, capital of Pernambuco, a state in the Northeast of Brazil.
2Moved to São Paulo
In December 1952, when Lula was only 7 years old, his mother decided to move to São Paulo with her children to rejoin her husband.
3Marriage
In 1969, he married Maria de Lourdes, who died of hepatitis in 1971, while pregnant with their first son, who also died.
4Second Marriage
In 1974, Lula married Marisa Letícia Rocco Casa, a widow with whom he then had three sons.
5A President of the Steel Workers' Union of São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema
He was elected in 1975, and reelected in 1978, as president of the Steel Workers' Union of São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema.
6Workers' Party
On 10 February 1980, a group of academics, intellectuals, and union leaders, including Lula, founded the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) or Workers' Party, a left-wing party with progressive ideas created in the midst of Brazil's military government.
7First ran for office
Lula first ran for office in 1982, for the state government of São Paulo, and lost.
8The Nickname
In 1982, he added the nickname Lula to his legal name.
9The Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) union association
In 1983 he helped found the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) union association.
10Seat in Congress
In the 1986 elections Lula won a seat in Congress with the most votes nationwide.
11The 2002 General elections
General elections were held in Brazil on 6 October 2002, with a second round on 27 October. After three failed attempts, Workers' Party leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva succeeded in a presidential election. Nevertheless, he did not manage to obtain the majority of valid votes in the first round; this led the presidential election to a second round, which Lula won with 52.7 million votes (61.3% of the total), becoming at the time the second most voted-for president in the world after Ronald Reagan in the 1984 United States presidential election.
12A President
He became a president in 2003.
13Second Term
General elections were held in Brazil on 1 October 2006 to elect all seats in the Chamber of Deputies, one-third of the Federal Senate, and members of the Legislative Assemblies of the 26 states and the Federal District. As no candidate for president received over 50% of the vote, a second round run-off was held on 29 October between incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his challenger, Geraldo Alckmin. A second round was also required in 10 states where no candidate for governor received a majority. Lula won the second round with over 60% of the valid votes and secured a new four-year term.
14Cesare Battisti
When wanted Italian terrorist Cesare Battisti was arrested in Rio de Janeiro on 18 March 2007 by Brazilian and French police officers, Brazilian Minister of Justice Tarso Genro granted him status as a political refugee, a controversial decision which divided Italy and the Brazilian and international press.
15G-20 summit
Before a G-20 summit in London in March 2009, Lula caused an uproar by declaring that the economic crisis was caused by "the irrational behavior of white people with blue eyes, who before seemed to know everything, and now have shown they don't know anything".
16Lula decided to bar extradition of Battisti
On 18 November 2009, the Brazilian Supreme Court declared the refugee status illegal and allowed Battisi's extradition, but also stated that the Brazilian constitution gave the president personal powers to deny the extradition if he chose to, effectively putting the final decision in the hands of Lula. Lula decided to bar extradition of Battisti.
17Not to allow extradition was officially announced
On 31 December 2010, Lula's last day in office, the decision not to allow extradition was officially announced.
18Battisti was released
Battisti was released on 9 June 2011 from prison after the Brazilian Constitutional Court denied Italy's request to extradite him. Italy planned to appeal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
19Throat Cancer
On 29 October 2011, through the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital of São Paulo, it was announced that Lula suffered from throat cancer, a malignant tumor in his larynx.
20Operation Car Wash
In 2014, Brazil began Operação Lava Jato (Operation Car Wash), resulting in several arrests and convictions, including nine suits against Lula.
21The Public Ministry of Brazil opened an investigation into allegations of influence peddling by Lula
In April 2015, the Public Ministry of Brazil opened an investigation into allegations of influence peddling by Lula, which claimed that between 2011 and 2014 he had lobbied for government contracts in foreign countries for the Odebrecht company and had also persuaded the Brazilian Development Bank to finance the projects in Ghana, Angola, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.
22President of Odebrecht arrested
In June 2015 Marcelo Odebrecht, president of Odebrecht, was arrested on charges that he had paid politicians $230 million in bribes.
23Brazilian authorities raided Lula's home
On 4 March 2016, as part of "Operation Car Wash", Brazilian authorities raided Lula's home.
2439-page petition
On 28 July 2016, Lula filed a 39-page petition with the UN's Human Rights Committee outlining alleged abuses of power. The petition claims that "Lula is a victim of abuse of power by a judge, with the complicity of prosecutors and the media". The petition was the first ever taken against Brazil which ratified the Committee’s protocol in 2009.
25Prosecutors filed corruption charges against Lula
On 14 September 2016, prosecutors filed corruption charges against Lula, accusing him of being the mastermind or 'maximum commander of the scheme'.
26Money Laundering
On 19 September 2016, 13th Circuit (Paraná) federal judge Sérgio Moro, who was leading the corruption probe, accepted an indictment for money laundering against Lula and his wife Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva.
27Additional evidence of abuses by the Brazilian justice system
The UN accepted the case and Brazil had six months to respond to the petition with the committee made of 18 international jurists. In November 2016, Lula's legal team filed additional evidence of abuses by the Brazilian justice system.
28A Sentence of nine and a half years in prison
On 12 July 2017, he received a sentence of nine and a half years in prison.
292 more years in prison
On 25 January 2018, the Appeal Court of Porto Alegre found Lula guilty of corruption and money laundering and sentenced him to 12 years of prison, for one of the nine law processes, as the other eight are still in course.
30The Case ended
On 26 March 2018 the Supreme Federal Tribunal of Brazil upheld the sentence of the Appeal Court, thus ending the case.
31(STF) voted 6–5 to deny Lula's habeas corpus petition
On 5 April 2018, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) voted 6–5 to deny Lula's habeas corpus petition.
32Lula appealed to the UN"s Human Rights Committee
Following Judge's Moro issuing of an arrest warrant for the ex-president, on April 6, 2018, Lula appealed to the UN"s Human Rights Committee to ask the government to prevent his arrest until he had exhausted all appeals.
33Not allowed to be visited
On 17 April 2018, Brazilian senators who were members of the legislature's Human Rights Commission, the Argentinian Nobel Prize laureate, Adolfo Perez Esquivel and the former president of Uruguay, José Pepe Mujica were not allowed to visit Lula in prison to acquire information of violation of Lula’s human rights.
34A Formal investigation
On 28 May 2018, the Committee initiated a formal investigation into violations against basic judicial guarantees in Lula's case.
35Overturned Release order
On 8 July 2018, federal judge for the 4th region Rogério Favreto ordered Lula's release, a ruling that was overturned the same day by the president of the 4th regional court.
36Pope Francis handwritten note
On 2 August 2018, Pope Francis received in Rome Celso Amorim, Alberto Fernández and Carlos Ominami, three former allies of Lula da Silva. At the conclusion of a one-hour meeting, Pope Francis received by Mr Amorim the Lula's biography The Truth Will Win and addressed to Lula a handwritten note that he posted in his Twitter account, with the following text: "To Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with my blessing, asking him to pray for me, Francisco”.
372018 presidential campaign
The Workers' Party officially launched Lula as its candidate on 5 August 2018, in São Paulo.
38Officially dropped out of the election
On 11 September 2018, Lula officially dropped out of the election and was replaced by former São Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad, whom Lula endorsed.
39Lula Released
Lula was released from prison after 580 days, in 8 November 2019.