UNESCO Prize to Brazil leader

France: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was awarded the Felix Houphount-Boigny Peace Prize, by UNESCO, an occasion in which he described armed conflicts as an affront to human rationality.

Justifying aggression as a preventive measure is unacceptable, as it is also inadmissible to solve differences among civilizations with conflict, the leader said in his speech.

Lula gave thanks and said he shared this prize with women and men who devoted their lives to peace.

The South American leader stressed the fact that Latin America is living a whole new vigorous moment of democracy that had its origin in past and historic segments that demand a more solidarious society.

We can no longer accept backward steps, reason why we fiercely condemn the coup in Honduras, he stressed.

UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura; Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates attended the award ceremony.

Paris, Prensa Latina