05/11/2023 – 18:39
First lady Rosângela da Silva, known as Janja, stated that she wants to have her own office at Palácio do Planalto, where her husband, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, works with aides. “The First Lady of the United States has one”, she argued in an interview published this Sunday, 5, in the newspaper The globein which she responds to criticism from government allies that she acts as if she had been elected.
“They talk a lot about me not having a cabinet, but we need to re-assume this issue. In the US, the first lady has it. She also has an agenda, a leading role, and no one questions it. Why is this question asked in Brazil? I will continue to do what I think is right. I know the limits. I want to know about the discussions, inform myself, I don’t want to hear from third parties”, she explained.
She says she “doesn’t participate” in Lula’s work meetings. “People think I just sit there. My conversations with the president are at home, in our daily lives, on the weekend, when we have a beer. When I’m uncomfortable, I go there and ask questions. It’s not because I’m the president’s wife that I’m only going to talk about lipstick brands,” she said.
Janja’s influence over Lula has motivated attacks from opponents and concern in the government, which, for now, has vetoed the installation of an office for her in Planalto, where the president directs. One of the recurring criticisms is that she goes beyond the limits of a first lady’s role and tries to influence decisions that would be up to elected politicians.
In the interview, Janja recognizes that “there are very few women” around the president and said that “it is part of” the dismissal of government ministers. The now former ministers of Tourism Carneiro Daniela Carneiro and Sports Ana Moser, in addition to the president of Caixa, Rita Serrano, were fired to accommodate men nominated by Centrão parties, the physiological wing of Congress.
“We already refuse to be in the photo as a quota. In the transition, we talk about more women in ministries. This was somehow met. We (she and the president) spent the weekends alone and talked a lot. Sometimes, we have discussions that are a little more like this… strong. But that’s it. We had two losses (of women) in government,” she said. The interview was carried out the day before Rita Serrano was fired from Caixa.
Janja also protested against ceremony protocols in Brazil and abroad in which the wives of authorities are positioned behind their husbands. “No, love, I don’t stand behind the president. I always stand by his side,” she said she told the Portuguese Parliament ceremonial during an event in Lisbon in April.
Janja does a fashion shoot with Bob Wolfenson
For the interview, Janja did an exclusive photo session with Bob Wolfenson, an internationally renowned fashion photographer. The photos produced show the first lady in poses at Palácio do Alvorada, the official residence of the presidents of the Republic.
Janja’s wardrobe also generates comments and often criticism. She says she uses her visibility to promote Brazilian designers.
“I make a point of always wearing a different outfit when I go to international events, because we need to talk more about Brazilian fashion and promote our designers.”
Regarding his day-to-day life in government, Janja states that he continues to go to the supermarket and pharmacy. “Sometimes I miss mopping the floor. Before he was elected, he helped me wash dishes, something he might not have done before, but I never asked.”
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