The Prague Post - Smiley and discreet: the sociologist marrying Brazil's Lula

EUR -
AED 4.308802
AFN 80.408983
ALL 97.80021
AMD 448.941926
ANG 2.099412
AOA 1075.735225
ARS 1469.36399
AUD 1.788567
AWG 2.111585
AZN 1.99454
BAM 1.953798
BBD 2.360392
BDT 142.50399
BGN 1.956028
BHD 0.442252
BIF 3483.16083
BMD 1.173103
BND 1.497578
BOB 8.077758
BRL 6.549316
BSD 1.169307
BTN 100.131831
BWP 15.61893
BYN 3.825796
BYR 22992.819458
BZD 2.348204
CAD 1.604459
CDF 3385.575019
CHF 0.932459
CLF 0.029024
CLP 1113.791316
CNY 8.423173
CNH 8.421982
COP 4718.220401
CRC 589.605939
CUC 1.173103
CUP 31.08723
CVE 110.152607
CZK 24.634931
DJF 208.177588
DKK 7.461158
DOP 70.099371
DZD 152.187907
EGP 58.062775
ERN 17.596546
ETB 162.205469
FJD 2.6315
FKP 0.863595
GBP 0.861973
GEL 3.179218
GGP 0.863595
GHS 12.193128
GIP 0.863595
GMD 83.89163
GNF 10144.778573
GTQ 8.984832
GYD 244.470556
HKD 9.208706
HNL 30.5692
HRK 7.536368
HTG 153.434099
HUF 398.893734
IDR 19042.512303
ILS 3.882443
IMP 0.863595
INR 100.49223
IQD 1531.424369
IRR 49416.965359
ISK 143.400414
JEP 0.863595
JMD 186.877728
JOD 0.831742
JPY 171.664272
KES 151.506134
KGS 102.58794
KHR 4694.230287
KMF 493.876307
KPW 1055.78094
KRW 1609.192787
KWD 0.358407
KYD 0.974198
KZT 606.246254
LAK 25188.084824
LBP 104745.323937
LKR 351.448407
LRD 234.390841
LSL 20.868989
LTL 3.463868
LVL 0.709598
LYD 6.322549
MAD 10.557923
MDL 19.814782
MGA 5174.675949
MKD 61.542241
MMK 2462.990707
MNT 4207.691981
MOP 9.452415
MRU 46.607434
MUR 53.047574
MVR 18.069151
MWK 2027.11437
MXN 21.841768
MYR 4.988617
MZN 75.031475
NAD 20.837361
NGN 1791.99709
NIO 43.016292
NOK 11.806215
NPR 160.212577
NZD 1.950243
OMR 0.451063
PAB 1.169007
PEN 4.150048
PGK 4.904059
PHP 66.255721
PKR 333.75194
PLN 4.246257
PYG 9060.75493
QAR 4.262651
RON 5.077538
RSD 117.170737
RUB 91.378131
RWF 1682.22975
SAR 4.39988
SBD 9.780071
SCR 17.215026
SDG 704.460806
SEK 11.145136
SGD 1.501044
SHP 0.921875
SLE 26.396564
SLL 24599.388362
SOS 668.112601
SRD 43.698679
STD 24280.86431
SVC 10.228476
SYP 15252.604025
SZL 20.836562
THB 38.204411
TJS 11.31036
TMT 4.117592
TND 3.419111
TOP 2.747521
TRY 46.99861
TTD 7.937833
TWD 34.306228
TZS 3055.933604
UAH 48.862827
UGX 4196.717912
USD 1.173103
UYU 47.291746
UZS 14860.773588
VES 133.271897
VND 30632.652965
VUV 140.119958
WST 3.227197
XAF 655.282801
XAG 0.032054
XAU 0.000352
XCD 3.170369
XDR 0.814962
XOF 655.288382
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.714974
ZAR 20.811082
ZMK 10559.327089
ZMW 28.436985
ZWL 377.738698
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Smiley and discreet: the sociologist marrying Brazil's Lula
Smiley and discreet: the sociologist marrying Brazil's Lula / Photo: Douglas MAGNO - AFP

Smiley and discreet: the sociologist marrying Brazil's Lula

Rosangela da Silva is a smiley, politically active member of Brazil's Workers' Party, but the new wife of presidential hopeful Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva remains discreet when it comes to her private life.

Text size:

Sociologist Da Silva and Lula, Brazil's president from 2003 to 2010, were due to be married in a ceremony on Wednesday evening, the details of which were kept top-secret.

Pictures of the couple kissing and cuddling regularly go viral on social media but Da Silva will be brought into a new limelight if veteran socialist Lula returns to the presidency in elections later this year and makes her Brazil's first lady.

"I'm in love as if I were 20 years old, as if it were my first girlfriend," said Lula, 76, about his 55-year-old partner, nicknamed "Janja," who is credited with giving the political icon a new lease on life.

Lula was left distraught when his wife of more than 30 years, with whom he had four children, Marisa Leticia, died in 2017.

He had also lost his first wife, Maria de Lourdes, to hepatitis, in 1971.

"When you lose your wife, you think, well, my life has no more meaning. Then suddenly this person appears who makes you feel like you want to live again," Lula said in a recent interview with Time magazine.

"We will get married calmly and I will have a happy campaign," said the former metal worker and trade unionist who is set for a fiery election battle against far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in October.

Born in Sao Paulo, Da Silva has a degree in sociology from Parana University in the southern city of Curitiba, where Lula was jailed between April 2018 and November 2019 on controversial corruption charges.

She joined the Workers' Party (PT) in 1983, two years after it was co-founded by Lula. She then worked for almost 20 years in the state energy company Itaipu Binacional.

- 'Cuddle you forever' -

Brazilian media say the couple have known each other for decades but Lula's press service insists their amorous relationship began only at the end of 2017, during an event with left-wing artists.

The relationship was only made public in May 2019, more than a year after Lula was incarcerated.

"Lula is in love and the first thing he will want to do when he leaves prison is get married," one of his lawyers said following a prison visit.

Even so, it has taken him two and a half years since his liberation to tie the knot, at a private ceremony for 200 guests in Sao Paulo that is shrouded in secrecy.

During Lula's incarceration, Da Silva would often tweet about the pain of their forced separation.

"All I want is to be able to wrap my arms around you and cuddle you forever," she wrote on the day Lula turned 74.

In November 2019, just after his liberation, they shared a kiss in front of masses of supporters outside the prison in Curitiba that had been his home for 18 months.

"I want to introduce you to someone I have already spoken about but whom some of you don't know: my future spouse," said an emotional Lula.

- 'Very politicized' -

Since Lula's corruption conviction was annulled by the Supreme Court and he was again eligible to stand for election, Da Silva has accompanied him on his many trips, including to Mexico and Europe.

Lula has suggested that, as first lady, Da Silva could play a role in food security programs, in a country where the Covid-19 pandemic has led to increased hunger.

Although highly active on social media for the Lula campaign, Da Silva is very discreet when it comes to her personal life, of which little is known.

According to Veja magazine, she was married for more than 10 years before her relationship with Lula, although she does not have any children.

Da Silva "is very politicized, she has a good political mind and is very feminist," Lula said in September, during an interview with rapper Mano Brown's podcast.

P.Svatek--TPP