Liésio Pereira
Reporter - Agência Brasil

São Paulo – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reaffirmed Saturday (4) his commitment to, by the end of the year, benefit with income transfer programs, such as the ‘Bolsa Família’, Brazilian families that live below the poverty line. The President participated on a ceremony to symbolically deliver 3.5 thousand cards of the Bolsa Família Program, in Santo André, in the state of São Paulo.

"I maintain the commitment, which is a life commitment, as well as a campaign commitment," said the President. According to the President, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) estimates that 11.4 million Brazilian households are in this situation, people like Maria Regilene da Silva, mother of three daughters: Rainá, Raíssa, and Ramara. She received from the President’s hands the Bolsa Família card number 17 thousand. The cards are distributed to families with per capita income of up to US$41.20 (R$100,00).

"By December 31st, we want to have reached eight million and seven hundred thousand families in Brazil, certainly consolidating the largest income transfer program on Earth," said the President. "I expect that when we are discussing the Millennium Goals at the United Nations headquarters in New York, in September, we can introduce to the world the Brazilian experience as a successful one," he added.

Translation: Andréa Alves