Brazil’s Bolsonaro hospitalized in US with intestinal discomfort

View of Advent Celebration Hospital, where former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was admitted for an illness, according to a family member, in Orlando, Florida, U.S., January 9, 2023. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro was admitted to a hospital in Florida with intestinal discomfort due to a stabbing he suffered during the 2018 election campaign, his wife Michelle Bolsonaro said Monday on Instagram.

In Brazil, Dr. Antonio Luiz Macedo, who has been treating Bolsonaro since the stabbing, said he has an intestinal subocclusion, or blockage, but was unlikely to need surgery.

“It is not a serious case,” he told Reuters.

READ: Brazil’s Bolsonaro rushed to hospital with intestinal blockage

Earlier, a source close to his family said Bolsonaro’s condition was “not worrying.”

Brazilian newspaper O Globo had reported earlier in the day that Bolsonaro had been suffering from abdominal pain.

READ: Brazil President Bolsonaro in hospital after feeling ‘discomfort’ — local media

Bolsonaro has undergone six surgeries since his stabbing, four of them directly linked to the attack.

He also has had cases of bowel adhesions and obstructions in the last few years.

READ: Brazil’s Bolsonaro, stabbed in 2018, may need emergency surgery

On Sunday, Bolsonaro supporters in Brazil’s capital launched the worst attack on state institutions since the country’s return to democracy in the 1980s.

His successor as president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who took office on Jan. 1, blamed Bolsonaro for inflaming his supporters with a campaign of baseless allegations about election fraud. Bolsonaro flew to Florida 48 hours before his term ended.

READ: Brazil’s Bolsonaro recovering, says will be ‘back in action soon’