With a soaring popularity rating, President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva is the most popular head of state in the entire world. A founding member of his party, the Brazilian Worker’s Party, and a former union leader who helped overthrow the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil for decades, Lula has been instrumental in the historic shift within Latin America to progressive governments within a coalition that includes Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and about a dozen more Latin American countries. His commitment to digital inclusion and a new independence for Latin America has been an inspiration around the world. Lula and his chosen successor, Dilma Rouseff, both attended FISL10 and spoke to a select crowd of 100 FISL participants. North by South’s representative at FISL was honored to be among those 100 invited to hear President Lula speak.