Janja, a high-profile first lady who influences Lula politically

• SEBASTIAN FEST

  @sebastianfest

  Brasilia

Updated Monday, January 2, 2023-23:56

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• Inauguration Brazil is once again governed by Lula after four turbulent years with Bolsonaro at the helm

• Interview Fernando Morais: "Today's Lula is infinitely better than 20 years ago"

Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, Iran's vice president for parliamentary affairs, approached Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to shake his hand.

Simultaneously, in almost perfect choreography,

moved back and practically hid behind Vice President Geraldo Alckin to start an animated conversation with his wife.

, the new

of Brazil, wanted nothing to do with the representatives of a regime that denies rights to women.

It happened on Sunday night at the Itamaraty Palace, the headquarters of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry and the fabulous dream of Oscar Niemeyer.

Lula greeted foreign delegations already as president of Brazil for the third time in her life.

And there was nothing casual in Janja's gesture, who moments before had conversed with Salvador Valdés, vice president of Cuba, a dictatorship that sees with different eyes, and immediately joined, once the Iranians left, in greeting her husband with Ralph Gonçalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Janja, a first lady who will have nothing as a figurehead.

Fifty-six years old (21 less than Lula), 1.64 centimeters (four less than Lula) and a member of the Workers' Party (PT) since she was 17, she has said more than once that the title she has held since 1 January 2023 is something "patriarchal".

Patriarchal or not, Janja is fully exploiting his position: first as a key person in the transitional government, then as a very influential figure in designing the inauguration ceremony, and finally as someone who will have a say, and perhaps a vote, in important decisions of the new government.

Lula, 77 and married for the third time, is aware of the risks that his wife, who was not elected to any position, is seen as someone with a voice and a vote in the government.

"According to allies,

and she could end up being, unfairly, responsible for the decisions he will make,"

recently noted .

Graduated in Social Sciences with a specialization in History from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Janja also has an MBA in social management and sustainability.

She has worked since 2005 in the administration of the Itaipu hydroelectric dam, which Brazil shares with Paraguay, until she left that position to become head of communication and institutional relations at Eletrobras.

But

and who changed Lula's life, whom he admires, cares for and pampers at all times.

"I am happy thanks to

, it is the source of water from which I drink," the Brazilian president said during the campaign.

"Janja gave me back my joy for life, the will to do things. I rediscovered a word called love, only the one who loves knows what that is."

Fernando Morais, Lula's biographer, delved into the issue in a recent interview with EL MUNDO: "Lula is more patient, calmer. Janja brought a lot of joy to Lula's life, a life that was a succession of tragedies."

Of course: Janja will never shut up, he added.

Janja was fundamental for Lula in the 581 days he spent in the Curitiba prison, convicted of corruption.

The current president was released not because he was considered innocent, but because the Supreme Court ruled that the courts that had sent him to prison were not competent.

Between 2018 and 2019, Janja went every day to demonstrate in front of the prison and demand Lula's release.

And in 2022 they got married.

Very present in the exhausting electoral campaign, which ended with a very close victory for Lula, Janja became a key figure in the transitional government that for two months functioned at the headquarters of the Cultural Center of the Bank of Brazil (CCBB).

That transitional government was led by Alckmin.

And the only two offices located in Lula's sector in the huge building of the Bauhaus school were those of the vice president... and Janja's.

Future ministers and other senior officials were placed further away, with less easy access to the PT leader.

The inauguration ceremony became the business of Janja, who was in fact in command, and officially in charge of the

, a series of celebratory concerts that lasted until early Monday morning.

Janja vetoed the traditional cannon salutes so as not to disturb people with autism

and took advantage of Jair Bolsonaro's flight to the United States to design an unprecedented delivery of the presidential sash by the "Brazilian people".

Thus, Lula climbed the ramp of the Planalto Palace - a high point of the liturgy in the assumption ceremonies in Brasilia - accompanied by representatives of Brazilian diversity and a dog, Resistencia.

Chief Raoni, representative of the original Brazilian peoples, a metal worker, a man with cerebral palsy and a black child were among those who accompanied Lula at that peak moment.

The band was put on by Aline Sousa, a 33-year-old black woman who has been collecting and recycling cardboard since she was 14. Janja can never be thankful enough for Bolsonaro's favor.

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