Rise and fall and rise again of Brazil’s president-elect Lula

Former shoe-shine boy who became country’s first working-class president in 2002 has sealed an astonishing comeback

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva embraces his wife Rosangela after defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in a presidential run-off to become the country's next president, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Sunday. Picture: Andre Penner/AP

He is one of Latin America’s most influential and enduring politicians — a silver-tongued statesman Barack Obama once hailed as “the most popular president on Earth”.

But had it not been for a chiding from Fidel Castro nearly four decades ago, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva might well have abandoned what would prove one of the most storied political careers the region has ever known.