Dignitaries, family pay respects to Brazil’s ex-first lady

SAO PAULO – Government officials joined the friends and family of former Brazilian first lady Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva on Saturday in paying their respects following her death at age 66.

Party leaders, state governors, mayors, senators and congress members were among those who filed past her coffin, which was covered in both a Brazilian flag and one of the Workers’ Party. The gathering was followed by cremation.

The wake was held at the Metalworkers’ Union of Sao Paulo’s industrial suburb of Sao Bernardo do Campo, where she and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met more than 40 years ago, just as his career as a union leader was taking off.

She had been hospitalized in Sao Paulo since Jan. 24 after suffering a stroke and died on Friday.

By the couple first met, both of their first spouses had died. They married in 1974, going on to have four children together.

In 1975, Silva was elected head of the Metallurgists Trade Union and in 1980 he helped found the Workers Party, his wife sewing its first flag.

While Silva was gaining notice as an organizer, his wife was developing as an activist, helping to organize large protests of women demanding workers’ rights.