The First Lady of Brazil, Rosangela da Silva, known as “Janja”, complained about the state of the presidential palace in Alvorada, while visiting TV Globo.
Inhabited until last week by President Jair Bolsonaro and his wife, the huge concrete, metal and glass palace is the official residence of the President of the Republic. It is one of the architectural jewels of Brasilia, due to Oscar Niemeyer.
Carpets with holes, broken windows, rooms stripped of their furniture, the inventory is quite extensive, according to images on Friday of this “exclusive interview” of Janja in the form of a guided tour of the Alvorada (Aurora) palace in Brasilia.
Lula “sorry” during the inventory
The 50-year-old, who married Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in May, explained that parts of the massive modernist building were “in disrepair” and that Lula had been “quite embarrassed” visiting places where he lived in the 2000s.
Walking around the Alvorada, Janja shows the camera a carpet full of holes, floors destroyed in some places, a broken window, torn curtains and a ceiling stained by water infiltration.
He also crosses a huge, completely empty dining room: tables and chairs have been taken away. Artwork and furniture seem to be missing, a 19th century sculpture is on the floor.
“This building is part of the national heritage,” Janja told TV Globo, struggling, despite her calm tone, to hide her dismay.
Postponed the couple’s entry into the palace
Reforms will be necessary and will delay the entry into the premises of the presidential couple, explained who wants to invest as much as possible in practical arrangements so that Lula can fully concentrate on his task as president.
“We are thinking of taking things from inside the palace to the patrimonial registry, so that this does not happen again, that a president cannot take historical objects belonging to the Brazilian State” when he leaves, said the First Lady.
Jair Bolsonaro lived in Alvorada for four years until last week, before leaving two days before the end of his term, so as not to attend Lula’s inauguration on January 1, as is the democratic tradition.
Lula, 77, knows the palace well, having spent his first two terms there (2003-2010), with his then-wife, Marisa Leticia, who has since passed away.
Source: BFM TV
