ByAFP
PublishedDecember 30, 2022
Peruvian shaman with a poster of Brazil's soon-to-be President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
- Copyright AFP Cris BOURONCLE
Ramon SAHMKOW
Brazil’s leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva returns triumphant to the presidency Sunday after years out in the cold, with plans for a spectacular inauguration amid ultra-tight security.
Some 300,000 revelers and more than a dozen heads of state and government are expected to attend the swearing-in extravaganza in the usually tranquil capital Brasilia.
Dubbed “Lulapalooza” on social media, the event will combine institutional rites with a mega concert gathering some of Brazil’s biggest musical stars.
A failed Christmas Eve bomb attack had threatened to put a damper on proceedings, prompting a never-before-seen security deployment for a Brazilian presidential inauguration.
Lula, 77, will officially become president for a third, non-successive, term after taking the oath with his vice-president Geraldo Alckmin at a ceremony in Congress.
But the moment his followers are waiting for is when he ascends the stage at Planalto palace, the seat of the presidency.
There, Lula is set to receive the presidential sash, a green-and-yellow silk band embroidered in gold and diamonds.
Normally, the new head of state receives the sash from his predecessor, but outgoing far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro — who has gone unusually silent since his electoral loss to Lula in October — has not said whether he would attend the ceremony.
Bolsonaro has not publicly accepted defeat nor congratulated Lula on his narrow victory.
Lula managed to garner 50.9 percent of the vote after a deeply divisive campaign in which Bolsonaro hammered, with some success, on his rival’s corruption conviction — since overturned in court.
Brazilian media has suggested Bolsonaro may even leave the country to celebrate the new year in Florida in the United States.
– Security fears –
The state of Brasilia has said it will deploy “100 percent” of its police force — some 8,000 officers — for Sunday’s celebrations amid fears of disturbances following the failed bomb attack in Brasilia a week before the inauguration.
Authorities arrested a Bolsonaro follower on terror charges after he allegedly placed explosives in a fuel truck near Brasilia’s airport on Christmas Eve, hoping to sow “chaos” ahead of the inauguration.
The suspect told authorities they wanted to “prevent the establishment of communism in Brazil” under Lula. Police found a cache of weapons at his home.
In addition to the Brasilia deployment, the federal police has said more than 1,000 of its officers would perform “intelligence and security” tasks related to Sunday’s event — the largest contingent ever for a presidential investiture.
After Bolsonaro’s defeat, supporters blocked roads and demonstrated outside military barracks to demand the armed forces prevent Lula’s inauguration.
On December 12, some of them set fire to vehicles and clashed with police in Brasilia.
By Thursday, hundreds were still gathered outside the army headquarters in the capital, demanding a military intervention.
Lula backers have expressed fear on social media of riots or attacks on inauguration day, but Lula’s future security minister Flavio Dino has sought to give assurances the event will be “safe” and “peaceful,” encouraging Brazilians to join the celebrations.
A Supreme Court judge on Wednesday suspended the right to bear arms for most civilians until the day after the ceremony.
– ‘Lulapalooza’ –
Given security concerns and predictions of rain, it was not clear whether Lula would do the traditional presidential street parade in a vintage convertible, as is the custom, or in a closed, armored car.
The decision will be taken “in the moment,” Dino told journalists.
At least 53 foreign delegations including 17 heads of state or government are scheduled to attend the inauguration — a historically large turnout.
Among them will be the presidents of Germany, Argentina, Chile and Colombia, and Spain’s King Felipe VI.
US President Joe Biden, who as vice president in 2015 attended the inauguration of Dilma Rousseff, is sending his Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
The public will gather on the Esplanade of Ministries, so called for being surrounded by government buildings and Congress.
There will be two giant stages decorated in the colors of the Brazilian flag, where more than 60 popular artists including Samba legend Martinho da Vila are due to perform.
“We will have a great popular festival”, promised future first lady Rosangela da Silva, who organized the so-called “Festival of the Future” since popularly renamed “Lulapalooza” on social media after the American Lollapalooza music event.
Ramon SAHMKOW
Brazil’s leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva returns triumphant to the presidency Sunday after years out in the cold, with plans for a spectacular inauguration amid ultra-tight security.
Some 300,000 revelers and more than a dozen heads of state and government are expected to attend the swearing-in extravaganza in the usually tranquil capital Brasilia.
Dubbed “Lulapalooza” on social media, the event will combine institutional rites with a mega concert gathering some of Brazil’s biggest musical stars.
A failed Christmas Eve bomb attack had threatened to put a damper on proceedings, prompting a never-before-seen security deployment for a Brazilian presidential inauguration.
Lula, 77, will officially become president for a third, non-successive, term after taking the oath with his vice-president Geraldo Alckmin at a ceremony in Congress.
But the moment his followers are waiting for is when he ascends the stage at Planalto palace, the seat of the presidency.
There, Lula is set to receive the presidential sash, a green-and-yellow silk band embroidered in gold and diamonds.
Normally, the new head of state receives the sash from his predecessor, but outgoing far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro — who has gone unusually silent since his electoral loss to Lula in October — has not said whether he would attend the ceremony.
Bolsonaro has not publicly accepted defeat nor congratulated Lula on his narrow victory.
Lula managed to garner 50.9 percent of the vote after a deeply divisive campaign in which Bolsonaro hammered, with some success, on his rival’s corruption conviction — since overturned in court.
Brazilian media has suggested Bolsonaro may even leave the country to celebrate the new year in Florida in the United States.
– Security fears –
The state of Brasilia has said it will deploy “100 percent” of its police force — some 8,000 officers — for Sunday’s celebrations amid fears of disturbances following the failed bomb attack in Brasilia a week before the inauguration.
Authorities arrested a Bolsonaro follower on terror charges after he allegedly placed explosives in a fuel truck near Brasilia’s airport on Christmas Eve, hoping to sow “chaos” ahead of the inauguration.
The suspect told authorities they wanted to “prevent the establishment of communism in Brazil” under Lula. Police found a cache of weapons at his home.
In addition to the Brasilia deployment, the federal police has said more than 1,000 of its officers would perform “intelligence and security” tasks related to Sunday’s event — the largest contingent ever for a presidential investiture.
After Bolsonaro’s defeat, supporters blocked roads and demonstrated outside military barracks to demand the armed forces prevent Lula’s inauguration.
On December 12, some of them set fire to vehicles and clashed with police in Brasilia.
By Thursday, hundreds were still gathered outside the army headquarters in the capital, demanding a military intervention.
Lula backers have expressed fear on social media of riots or attacks on inauguration day, but Lula’s future security minister Flavio Dino has sought to give assurances the event will be “safe” and “peaceful,” encouraging Brazilians to join the celebrations.
A Supreme Court judge on Wednesday suspended the right to bear arms for most civilians until the day after the ceremony.
– ‘Lulapalooza’ –
Given security concerns and predictions of rain, it was not clear whether Lula would do the traditional presidential street parade in a vintage convertible, as is the custom, or in a closed, armored car.
The decision will be taken “in the moment,” Dino told journalists.
At least 53 foreign delegations including 17 heads of state or government are scheduled to attend the inauguration — a historically large turnout.
Among them will be the presidents of Germany, Argentina, Chile and Colombia, and Spain’s King Felipe VI.
US President Joe Biden, who as vice president in 2015 attended the inauguration of Dilma Rousseff, is sending his Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
The public will gather on the Esplanade of Ministries, so called for being surrounded by government buildings and Congress.
There will be two giant stages decorated in the colors of the Brazilian flag, where more than 60 popular artists including Samba legend Martinho da Vila are due to perform.
“We will have a great popular festival”, promised future first lady Rosangela da Silva, who organized the so-called “Festival of the Future” since popularly renamed “Lulapalooza” on social media after the American Lollapalooza music event.
Brazil’s ‘Janja’ wants to give ‘new meaning’ to first lady role
By AFP
By AFP
December 30, 2022
Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his wife, Rosangela da Silva, share a kiss after his election win - Copyright AFP NELSON ALMEIDA
Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his wife, Rosangela da Silva, share a kiss after his election win - Copyright AFP NELSON ALMEIDA
Eugenia LOGIURATTO
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva credits his wife of mere months, Rosangela da Silva, with giving him new life.
Da Silva, a 56-year-old sociologist and left-wing activist widely known by her nickname “Janja,” was front-and-center in her husband’s election campaign and in planning his inauguration on Sunday.
She has injected fervor and much affection into the job, tenderly holding her husband’s victory speech as he addressed a sea of euphoric supporters after his October election victory, and organizing a major music party for some 300,000 expected to join Sunday’s celebrations.
Da Silva married Lula, 77, a twice-widowed cancer survivor, in May.
“I am as in love as if I were 20 years old,” the president has said of his wife, a long-time member of his Workers’ Party.
Their age difference seems to have breathed new energy into Lula, whose first wife, Maria de Lourdes, died in 1971. In 2017, he lost his second wife of four decades, Marisa Leticia Rocco, to a stroke.
“When you lose your wife, and you think, well, my life has no more meaning, suddenly a person appears who makes you feel like you want to live again,” he told Time magazine in an interview published just before he remarried.
The septuagenarian politician links his political rebirth to his late-life love affair.
“I’m here, standing strong, in love again, crazy about my wife,” he told the crowd Sunday. “She’s the one who will give me strength to confront all obstacles.”
– A kiss outside prison –
Da Silva was born in the south of Brazil and earned a sociology degree from the university in Curitiba, capital of Parana state.
In 1983 she joined the Workers’ Party, which Lula had cofounded two years earlier.
Brazilian media reports say the two have known each other for decades, but Lula’s press people said their romance began only in late 2017 at an event with left-leaning artists.
The love affair between the smiling woman with long chestnut hair and the aging lion of the Brazilian left became widely known in May 2019.
At the time, Lula was in prison — jailed on controversial corruption charges that were later annulled by the Supreme Court.
“Lula is in love, and the first thing he wants to do when he gets out of prison is get married,” one of his lawyers said after visiting him then.
In the end, the two wed only this year. The 200 guests included celebrities like singer Gilberto Gil, who had served as Lula’s culture minister.
While Lula was in prison, Janja would pen affectionate tweets about him. “All I want to do is hug you and cuddle with you nonstop,” she wrote on his 74th birthday.
In November 2019, shortly after Lula’s release from prison, they shared a kiss before a crowd gathered outside the prison in Curitiba, where Lula had spent 18 months locked up.
– ‘New meaning’ –
While active in Lula’s campaign, on stage and on social media, Da Silva is very private about her personal life. The magazine Veja says she was previously married for more than 10 years and has no children.
Starting January 1, she will be Brazil’s first lady.
“I want to give new meaning to the role of first lady, by focusing on topics that are priorities for women, such as food insecurity or domestic violence,” she said in August.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva credits his wife of mere months, Rosangela da Silva, with giving him new life.
Da Silva, a 56-year-old sociologist and left-wing activist widely known by her nickname “Janja,” was front-and-center in her husband’s election campaign and in planning his inauguration on Sunday.
She has injected fervor and much affection into the job, tenderly holding her husband’s victory speech as he addressed a sea of euphoric supporters after his October election victory, and organizing a major music party for some 300,000 expected to join Sunday’s celebrations.
Da Silva married Lula, 77, a twice-widowed cancer survivor, in May.
“I am as in love as if I were 20 years old,” the president has said of his wife, a long-time member of his Workers’ Party.
Their age difference seems to have breathed new energy into Lula, whose first wife, Maria de Lourdes, died in 1971. In 2017, he lost his second wife of four decades, Marisa Leticia Rocco, to a stroke.
“When you lose your wife, and you think, well, my life has no more meaning, suddenly a person appears who makes you feel like you want to live again,” he told Time magazine in an interview published just before he remarried.
The septuagenarian politician links his political rebirth to his late-life love affair.
“I’m here, standing strong, in love again, crazy about my wife,” he told the crowd Sunday. “She’s the one who will give me strength to confront all obstacles.”
– A kiss outside prison –
Da Silva was born in the south of Brazil and earned a sociology degree from the university in Curitiba, capital of Parana state.
In 1983 she joined the Workers’ Party, which Lula had cofounded two years earlier.
Brazilian media reports say the two have known each other for decades, but Lula’s press people said their romance began only in late 2017 at an event with left-leaning artists.
The love affair between the smiling woman with long chestnut hair and the aging lion of the Brazilian left became widely known in May 2019.
At the time, Lula was in prison — jailed on controversial corruption charges that were later annulled by the Supreme Court.
“Lula is in love, and the first thing he wants to do when he gets out of prison is get married,” one of his lawyers said after visiting him then.
In the end, the two wed only this year. The 200 guests included celebrities like singer Gilberto Gil, who had served as Lula’s culture minister.
While Lula was in prison, Janja would pen affectionate tweets about him. “All I want to do is hug you and cuddle with you nonstop,” she wrote on his 74th birthday.
In November 2019, shortly after Lula’s release from prison, they shared a kiss before a crowd gathered outside the prison in Curitiba, where Lula had spent 18 months locked up.
– ‘New meaning’ –
While active in Lula’s campaign, on stage and on social media, Da Silva is very private about her personal life. The magazine Veja says she was previously married for more than 10 years and has no children.
Starting January 1, she will be Brazil’s first lady.
“I want to give new meaning to the role of first lady, by focusing on topics that are priorities for women, such as food insecurity or domestic violence,” she said in August.
No comments:
Post a Comment