Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during the fifth Ministerial Forum for Development in Brasilia May 30, 2012.UESLEI MARCELINO/REUTERS
Many Brazilians see Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as something resembling the second coming. Now, he has announced he may try to become Brazil's president a third time around.
"The only situation under which I'd be a candidate again is if she (current President Dilma Rousseff) doesn't want the job," Lula said on the O Ratinho, or "the Rat" TV show, which airs on a Brazilian national network.
"I will not permit a member of the [opposition]to become president of Brazil again," he said in the first interview he's given since he left office seventeen months ago.
The news is sure to unsettle his opponents and energize his supporters. Mr. da Silva's story -- a rags-to-riches tale that mirrors Brazil's economic transformation, echoes from the favelas of Rio to the presidential palace in Brasilia.
He was born dirt poor and, against all odds, fought his way out of destitution to become Brazil's most celebrated president.
When I travelled to the country a couple of years ago, in the hopes of meeting him, the hype was such that it had its very own term "Lulismo". (President Barack Obama once dubbed Mr. da Silva the "most popular politician on Earth.")
I never got the interview I was hoping for, but did follow Lula around the country for a few days, as he addressed various gatherings of supporters, from businessmen to the rural poor.
Mr. da Silva presided over Brazil's economic transformation. Since he left office, however, the country has sputtered somewhat.
Brazil's economy expanded just 0.2 per cent in the first quarter compared with the final quarter of last year, suggesting another disappointing year overall.
Since last year, economists say Brazil has struggled to solve its internal fiscal challenges fuelled by an overstretched transport system, unskilled labour force and low levels of investment.
Whether or not Lula could fix these problems – his presidency set the stage for many of them – remains to be seen. But the prospect of him returning from the sidelines – after surviving cancer of the Larynx for which he was diagnosed last year, no less – is enough to capture the country's imagination.
The legend of Lula may be poised to loom even larger.