Rosângela da Silva is, according to analysts, a key player in the political resurrection of Lula da Silva after his time in prisonThis feminist and politically committed sociologist is the third wife of the leftist leader”She will be the one who will give me the strength to face all obstacles “, Lula said after knowing his triumph in the presidential elections. The future president of Brazil says that he is in love with her “as if he were 20 years old”. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who recently turned 77, is referring to his wife Rosângela da Silva, who is called Janja, two decades his junior. Analysts say that she is a key player in the political resurrection of the leftist leader, who won last Sunday’s elections -by a narrow margin- against the current far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. After that victory, and before the followers who acclaimed him in Sao Paulo, Lula dedicated a few words to his wife: “I am here, firm and strong, loving again, in love with my wife… She will be the one who will give me the strength to face all obstacles.” Who is the woman who will become the new first lady of Brazil and who, as she herself has said, wants to “redefine” that role? Rosângela da Silva, 57, is a sociologist and has described herself as a true “petista with a card” (referring to the leftist Workers’ Party founded by Lula). Her political activism comes from afar, she joined the formation when she was 17 years old. “Brazil of Hope. I love you, my love. Congratulations, Brazil. Tomorrow will be beautiful,” she wrote after learning of the triumph of Lula, who will govern the country for the third time (it already did so between 2003 and 2010). The couple married last May. Lula da Silva has spoken on several occasions of the support she gave him during the 580 days he spent in jail accused of corruption (the convictions were later annulled by the Supreme Court). The day he was released – in November 2019 – was the first time he was seen publicly with what would become his third wife. Janja was among the relatives waiting for him outside the prison. Their romance had been known a few months before. They kissed and he announced: “I want to introduce you to someone I have already mentioned, but not everyone knows: my future partner.” Lula da Silva’s third wife During the confinement, Rosângela had visited him regularly in prison and they had written letters to each other. . “When I came out, I thought: I really think I’m going to have to marry the girl,” he later recounted. “I am now with Janja, who is very politicized, has a good head and is very feminist,” she explained to Mano Brown on her Mano a Mano podcast. According to Brazilian media, they began their relationship at the end of 2017, after agreeing on a political act that brought together activists and artists. Lula was already the widower of his second wife, Marisa Leticia Rocco, who died that year from a stroke. “When you lose your wife and you think that life has no more meaning, that everything is over, a person appears who begins to make sense of it again,” he would tell Time magazine. With his second wife he had four children; he has one more from another relationship. Lula was also widowed by his first wife, María de Lourdes Silva, who died in 1971. As for Rosângela, she had been married for more than a decade, according to the publication Veja. Sociologist, feminist and politically engaged The new first lady of Brazil studied Sociology in the Federal University of Paraná and worked for a long time for the Itaipú Binacional energy company in Curitiva, in the south of the country. After Lula’s release from prison, the two moved in together. She began to accompany him to political acts. And she was gaining ground (coordinating, participating in decisions) She has shown interest in issues such as animal welfare, environmental protection, the fight against the sexual exploitation of minors or food security. Some analysts consider that she has a lot to do with a certain modernization of Lula’s speech. Contrary to the affirmations of the current first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro (who last September said in an act that “the woman is a helper of the husband”), Janja has publicly told the leftist leader: “I am not going to help you, I am not going to be a helper. I am going to be by your side, together, fighting so that we can once again give Brazil the hope that the people deserve.” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva kisses his wife, Rosângela da Silva, after learning of his victory in the elections on October 30, in Sao Paulo (Brazil). Alexandre Schneider/Getty ImagesDuring an act in Rio de Janeiro, before the second electoral round, also assured: “I want to give a new meaning to the concept of first lady or ‘first companion’, focusing on priority issues for women, such as food insecurity or domestic violence.” In recent times, she has also increased her activity smo in social networks. During the National Day against Violence against Women, on October 10, she criticized “dismantling” in different sectors that “have widened inequalities” and lamented that “women are always the first to feel the effects of this inequality.” She also spoke out in the face of the great controversy created by Bolsonaro by calling a group of disadvantaged Venezuelan minors prostitutes. Rosângela da Silva has denounced the management of the far-right leader’s government of the coronavirus pandemic. After casting her vote in the presidential elections, she wrote: “Today I have come to vote for the almost 700,000 victims of covid who were neglected by this Government. I have lost my mother, it is a pain that does not go away. I know that many ( … ) families have in their memory their relatives who are no longer here. Today I vote for these people.” She will debut her new role on January 1, 2023, when Lula da Silva assumes the presidency of the Latin American giant and opens a new stage in a deeply polarized country.