You will have to reckon with it. In the entourage of Lula da Silva, the elected president of Brazil, it was quickly understood: Rosangela da Silva, the future “first lady”, will not play the vases on the arm of the one who remains, at 77, a political rock star. And for good reason. Twenty-one years her junior, this sociologist nicknamed “Janja” is a woman of convictions, an early activist in the Workers’ Party (PT), of which her illustrious husband is the historical leader.
Not a speech where the boss of the left does not declare his love for him. “It is she who will give me the strength to face all the obstacles, he paid tribute to him on the evening of his narrow victory against Jair Bolsonaro, on October 30.
According to the official version, it was a few months after the death of his second wife, Marisa Leticia, in February 2017, that the idyll was tied during a football match organized by the “landless”. That day, the icon of the left played in the team of singer Chico Buarque. In April 2018, Lula was imprisoned for alleged corruption. His detention lasted 580 days, before the surprise cancellation of his convictions. During this long crossing of the desert, Janja campaigns for his release. She gets visitation rights, collects her dirty laundry, cooks him snacks, writes to him…
On May 18, the two lovebirds got married in Sao Paulo. Perfect timing. A few weeks before the start of the campaign, the favorite of the ballot sets the tone: to the hatred of the far right he will oppose love.
“I took for myself this role of taking care of him”
But beating Bolsonaro isn’t easy, even for Brazil’s most popular politician. In this duel of titans, both put forward their wives to mobilize the vote of women, the majority in the electorate. Glasses and natural hair, Rosangela da Silva sings, dances, turns the pages of her husband’s speeches, wipes his forehead… “I took on this role of taking care of him, of preserving him. , she confides on TV Globo. During his first walkabout, on July 2, I placed myself in front of him to protect him. Because in a Brazil fractured by four years of Bolsonarism, the physical integrity of Lula has become an issue.
“His victory, he owes it above all to his political refocusing, which resulted in the choice of a right-wing running mate [NDLR : le vice-président Geraldo Alckmin], explain Ciça Guedes and Murilo Fiuza de Melo, co-authors of a book on the first ladies of Brazil. However, his wife proved to be precious. With his pop side, his spontaneity and, of course, their age difference, Janja rejuvenates the image of the septuagenarian leader. A solar figure, she revived the festive side of the first campaigns of the PT. And his ease on social networks is an asset that is lacking on the left.” In the construction of the broad alliance that has formed around him to repel the fascist danger, Lula owes his beloved a rallying weight : funk superstar Anitta It is Janja who negotiates with the singer the famous tweet in which she announces to her 17 million subscribers that she will vote Lula, even if she “is not, nor has she ever been” on board.
“Impossible to understand the Lula cuvée 2022 without Janja”
“Impossible to understand the Lula cuvée 2022 without Janja, adds political analyst Thomas Traumann. She makes him aware of racism, the environment, the rights of women and minorities – themes that were not part of the repertoire of the left union.”
The future first lady has an opinion on everything, and wants to fight for her husband’s ideas. A healthy break with the trinket role to which Brazil had brutally reduced the figure of first lady after electing a woman president, Dilma Rousseff, deposed in 2016. Marcela, the wife of his successor, Michel Temer, wanted to be “beautiful, reserved and at home”. Michelle Bolsonaro was content to do extras. Janja, she assumes an Eva Peron side. “Her fight for the rights of Argentine women is an inspiration, says, in the interview with TV Globo, the one who makes the fight against domestic violence a priority. I am also impressed by Michelle Obama, at the origin of policies public campaigns led by her husband.” In four years, Lula will no longer be old enough to represent himself. Could Janja succeed him?