Lula and Janja plant kapok seedlings at Palácio da Alvorada

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and First Lady Rosângela da Silva, known as Janja, planted two kapok seedlings in the garden of Palácio da Alvorada – the official residence of the Presidency of the Republic in Brasília. The tree, characteristic of the Amazon region, can live for 120 years and reach 70 meters in height.

“A little piece of the Amazon in Alvorada”, wrote Janja on a social network. “We want to bring species from all over Brazil to be part of the place.”

In the video published on social media, Lula stated that he received the two kapok seedlings and decided to plant them in the garden of Palácio da Alvorada. The president said he wanted to plant “almost all Brazilian plant seedlings so that people who come to Brasília get to know a little about Brazil”.

“This kapok is a tree that grows a lot and, therefore, it was planted here in front, because it has sun here all day,” said the PT member.

“I think they will succeed because I have the holy hand to plant things.”

In an interview with GloboNews, in January last year, Janja stated that there were “several fruit trees” planted by Lula and former first lady Marisa Letícia at Palácio da Alvorada. According to her, the president had also planted a mandacaru tree at the site.

“It should already be very tall, very beautiful. And they cut the mandacaru tree,” he said at the time. “He was very sad because the mandacaru tree was cut, unfortunately.”