The widow of Lula and Silvio Santos experiences a moment of turmoil during the launch of a new channel

SBT photographers recorded a private conversation between President Lula and soap opera author Íris Abravanel, widow of Silvio Santos, during the launch event of the SBT News news channel.

From the pictures you can see their emotions. In addition to exchanging words, they hugged each other and the politician kissed the playwright on the forehead. The first lady, Janja da Silva, followed the moment closely.

The presentation of the channel, broadcast live on pay television, streaming and on YouTube on Monday 15 at 6:30 p.m., took place on the day when the founder of SBT would have turned 95. He died of bronchopneumonia in August 2024.

Although he had always been right-wing (notably maintaining good relations with generals during the period of the military dictatorship) and a fan of Jair Bolsonaro, the presenter and businessman cultivated a friendly relationship with Lula.

In 2010, he even went to Brasilia to pay a courtesy visit to the president who was serving his second term. “Silvio Santos thought exactly what I think about the press: the journalist should not judge, the judge is the one who judges,” said Lula in his speech this Friday (12) during the ceremony at the SBT headquarters, in Osasco, Greater São Paulo.

“The journalist exists to inform, on the basis of the truth, no matter who he harms. The press is only useful if it is free. If it is partisan, it does not fulfill its role of informing society well.”

Responsible for the implementation and institutional relations of SBT News, the former federal deputy Fábio Faria, husband of the presenter Patrícia Abravanel, guarantees that the new channel will not have any partisan political ideology.

“We will give the news as it is. If you want to criticize, you must criticize; if you want to praise, you must praise, always impartially.”