Lula, icon of the Brazilian left, was elected president against Jair Bolsonaro. Janja Silva, the candidate’s third wife, was omnipresent in her husband’s campaign.
She is Lula’s third wife, the one we didn’t really expect, when the former Brazilian president became a widower at 71. Rosângela Silva thus succeeded Marisa Leticia, Lula’s beloved second wife, mother of his 4 sons, who died in 2017 of a stroke after thirty years alongside the politician. At his side also during the many campaigns of the tireless leader, who celebrated his 77th birthday on October 27, and who was elected president on Sunday.
The latter defeated far-right outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro, who had ruled the country since 2019. As the first round in early October gave victory to Lula, an icon of the left in his country, the Brazilians were called at the polls a second time, this Sunday, October 30, to decide between them. And made the choice of the candidate on the left. Since the start of the campaign, the one nicknamed Janja has worked in the shadows for a triumphant exit for her husband.
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Friend of the stars
In 2022, she brought all her energy and enthusiasm to the candidate of the Workers’ Party (PT), chaining meetings, and calls for votes on social networks. The one who was unknown to the general public until recently quickly took her place within the campaign team, reserving the task of making the link with artists and influencers. The smiling 50-year-old (she turned 56 in August) with a round face has thus been full of support. From the stars of Tropicalism, like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, to the immense Chico Buarque, witness at their wedding last May, passing by the singer Anitta, actors of international stature like Wagner Moura (who played Carlos), but also influencers like the make-up artist Juliette, or sportspeople starting with the former PSG player Rai… all have joined Lula’s candidacy. It was still Janja who was at the maneuver to organize the last big campaign meeting, the Super Live, in São Paulo on September 26, which brought together many artists on the stage. Even American actor Mark Ruffalo tweeted support.
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Omnipresent in the countryside
Its omnipresence has earned it criticism, particularly internally. Not enough to dampen the motivation of Janja who asserted herself from meeting to meeting. In her deep and serene voice, the orator with long brown hair introduces her husband’s speeches, whom she simply calls “amor” (love). His Instagram account also testifies to his recent stylistic evolution. The jeans, colorful T-shirts bearing the image of her husband, and leather jackets from the beginnings have recently given way to dressier, more “first lady” monochrome dresses, facing a Luis Inacio Lula da Silva in sneakers and jeans. , as if to signify a youthful dynamic.
The death of his mother, victim of the Covid
Unlike Marisa Leticia, who always remained discreet, Rosângela does not hesitate to sing on stage and to express herself on political issues. She is thus the armed arm of her husband in the seduction of a female electorate, already bristling against Jair Bolsonaro for his sexist remarks. “It is the women who will decide this election. Women who will help rebuild our country, the Brazil of hope», she wrote on Instagram. On the official videos, it is always around the question of women that she positions herself, sensitive “to the difficulties encountered by mothers, very indebted”, or to denounce in particular feminicides and violence against women in Brazil. The only more intimate subject she discusses in her meetings is the death of her mother, Mrs. Vani Terezinha Ferreira, from Covid, during the pandemic, “like 700,000 Brazilians”, would like to remind Rosângela.
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“Giving new meaning to the concept of first lady”
Guest of singer Mano Brown’s podcast in September 2021, Lula described his future wife as someone “very politicized, with a well-made head in politics and very feminist”. This sensitivity is far from being artificial. Graduated in sociology from the Federal University of Paraná, holder of an MBA in social management and sustainability, Janja earned her stripes as an activist a long time ago. A member of the PT since she was 17, the sociologist also knew Lula through the party. As the possibility of a victory looms, Janja sheds some light on her action as a future First Lady. Asked by an Instagram follower, she broached the subject in August: “We are working for me to become this first lady that you are waiting for”. Adding mysteriously: “And there is a little secret: we will try to give a new meaningto this concept of first lady”.
On September 15, she confirmed that she would not be a “helper(assistant), using the term used by Michelle Bolsonaro, the current first lady, to talk about wives. When the wife of the now ex-president of the far right displays “the honor, glory, strength and power of King Jesus” for credo on Instagram, Janja she aligns her academic and political curriculum. To Bolsonaro who calls on men to find “their princess”she replies that she only sees “warriors” in the assembly.
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Interviewed by the media wow on the role of the first lady in July 2022, Lula replied with his usual spontaneity: “I don’t think there should be a ministry dedicated to the first lady, but I count on her to help me, advise me and also argue with me”. And to add: “She is a young lady who has her own thinking, and she will have all the freedom to decide the role she wants to play.”
I count on her to help me, advise me and also argue with me
Lula, about his third wife
Visitor in prison
To hear him, one would think the former president almost intimidated by the strong personality of Rosângela. Yet initially, their meeting is that of an old lion of politics with a grassroots activist 20 years his junior. It was in this context of political commitment that their paths crossed at the end of 2017, according to the PT press service, before the love story began in 2018, shortly before Lula was sent to prison in part of the vast anti-corruption operation Lava Jato (“Lavage Express”). Sentenced to a twelve-year sentence, the former president will spend eighteen months in Curitiba prison. He will be definitively cleared in March 2021 after the cancellation of his convictions by the Supreme Court and thus again become eligible for the supreme office. Released on November 8, 2019, his first action was to introduce Janja to the crowd who came to greet him. And to kiss him full on the mouth right in Curitiba. Because during the 580 days of detention, the sociologist was an unfailing support, multiplying the visits to the visiting room. “We wrote 580 letters to each other, I still have them with me,” said Lula on a visit to Paris in March 2020. And the one who has always cried political conspiracy to add: “It is thanks to this love that I left prison without hatred”.
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I’m in love with her like I’m 20
Lula da Silva
“Wall of Silence and Loyalty”
Brazil then discovers this stranger, and the media go in search of information on this girl from the south, born on August 27, 1966 in União da Vitória, in the state of Paraná. We learn that she studied sociology and worked for nearly twenty years in the public company Itaipu Binacional which manages the huge dam of the same name. But on his private life before Lula, nothing filters. Review Look reveals that she would have been married for ten years and has no children. Our colleagues from the Curitiba newspaper Plural write that in seeking to know more they found themselves confronted with a “wall of silence and loyalty”. They inform all the same that Janja is the youngest and has two brothers and that she would have been married to a history teacher. His father, José Clóvis da Silva, an 82-year-old retiree, still lives in Curitiba. Contacted by the newspaper, her friends describe her as a woman “determined, organized, focused, loyal”. And claim that the love at first sight with Lula would have taken place during a charity football match in Guararema, in December 2017, where the ex-president was part of the team led by singer and composer Chico Buarque.
On his Instagram account, opened in May 2017, nothing sticks out either. The first photo shared, that of her dog Thor, received 24 likes. Then follow traditional selfies, photos of dinners with friends, hikes, jazz evenings with his great friend the lawyer Leandro Pedron, more images of dogs and calls for the release of Lula. Before the rise in power towards the formalization of the couple. And the number of followers which goes from 700 to 226,000.
Wedding dress made in Brazil
The couple’s wedding will be celebrated on May 18, 2022, during a private ceremony reserved for a circle of relatives, including many artists, in a chic residence in São Paulo. The bride steps forward in a dress made in Brazil sure. The off-white creation, hand-embroidered by local artisans, is signed by high-profile Helô Rocha.
Lula appears more than ever galvanized by their relationship: “I’m in love with her like I was 20”, he never tires of repeating. The couple never leaves each other and criss-crossed Brazil hand in hand during the marathon campaign. United behind this slogan “love will win”, for the “Brazil of hope”. A vast program to be put in place to repair a disunited Brazil like never before after four years of the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. “Without fear of being happy“, “without fear of being happy”, as chants the official campaign anthem of Lula.