R$ 28 million: Organization that offered Janja a position closes an agreement for COP-30, says newspaper
Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC), the federal government’s state-owned news company, signed a contract worth R$27.9 million with the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) to cover the United Nations Climate Conference (COP-30), which will be held in Belém. The information is from Roseann Kennedy, columnist at Estadão.
In 2023, the OEI began a movement with the government of Luis Inácio Lula da Silva to create a position that would be occupied by First Lady Rosângela da Silva, known as Janja. She participated in the launch ceremony of the Ibero-American Network for Inclusion and Equality, at the entity’s headquarters in Spain. Janja posed for photos alongside the secretary general of the OEI, Mariano Jabonero, but did not take office due to a government retreat.
The organization has already accumulated at least R$710 million in contracts during the Lula government — an amount 800% higher than that recorded during the Bolsonaro administration, as revealed by Estadão.
EBC states that the contract follows market values and is related to the structure necessary to broadcast more than 42 debate environments during the conference days. The OEI claims to follow international governance standards and denied any favoritism from the federal government.
According to the investigation, the initial contract, signed at the end of September, provided for an expense of R$23 million, but was increased to R$27.9 million on the 7th, without a bidding process. The OEI, which is an international entity governed by public law, is exempt from the Brazilian Tender Law.
Records in the current term
OEI has been operating in Brazil for around 20 years, since the first Lula government, with social projects, consultancy and educational actions. However, the organization broke revenue records in the current term, driven by two presidential decrees that facilitated the increase in direct contracts.
In addition to EBC, most partnerships are concentrated in bodies linked to the PT, such as the Civil House, the General Secretariat of the Presidency and the Ministries of Education and Racial Equality. OEI’s biggest contract in the Lula government is with the Extraordinary Secretariat of COP-30, subordinate to the Civil House, which provides for the transfer of R$478 million.
According to Estadão, of the R$710 million in contracts signed with 19 bodies under the current administration until April, R$629 million, almost 90%, are under the administration of PT ministers and leaders. On the other hand, during the Bolsonaro administration, OEI signed contracts totaling R$78.9 million.
