Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Opinion Source Information:

Javno

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva touted his country's bid to host the 2016 Olympics, saying on Friday the growing economic power of developing nations needed to be replicated in sport.

The burly former metal worker, in London for a meeting of G20 leaders, made a trip to the 2012 Olympic site as he showcased Rio de Janeiro's bid to become the first South American city to host the Games.

"It is time to make the Olympics democratic, developing countries have the right to host the Games," Lula told reporters after touring the massive building site in East London that will host the 2012 event.

"We are competing for the Summer Olympics. South America has the right to hold the Games."

Opinion Source Information:

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Sunday that he is pleased with the improvements in U.S. relations with Venezuela and Cuba, achieved during the Fifth Summit of the Americas.

 

"Let's be frank, everybody expected Chavez and Obama to fight each other. What happened? Exactly the opposite," Lula told a press conference shortly after the end of the summit. "Chavez said that it is not enough to be a commercial partner of the United States. He actually wants to be a friend of the United States."

 

"I tried several times to set a meeting of Chavez and Bush. It was not possible, because Chavez is convinced it was Bush who plotted the coup attempt against him," said Lula, referring to the failed 2002 coup attempt in Venezuela.

"If Chavez had a serious problem in the Bush era, all that could be changed in the Obama era," added Lula.

link

Opinion Source Information:

Reuters

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday he believed U.S. President Barack Obama would further dismantle a 47-year-old trade embargo against Communist Cuba.

"I know there are cultural and political problems. It's not easy to overcome conservative sectors in each country, but I think Obama will tend to advance and understand there is no more need for an embargo against Cuba," the former union leader said on his weekly radio address.