Brazil’s Bolsonaro remains in intensive care after 12-hour surgery

SAO PAULO — Brazilian doctors said Monday that former President Jair Bolsonaro is conscious and remains in intensive care following a 12-hour surgery for a bowel obstruction the day prior. The far-right leader was hospitalized due to problems related to long-term effects of being stabbed in the abdomen in September 2018.

Doctors at the DF Star Hospital said in a press conference in Brasilia that they do not expect to discharge Bolsonaro this week. Cláudio Birolini, the head of the medical team, said the former president has experienced discomfort in his abdomen since Christmas.

“That is a sign that something hasn’t been going well,” Birolini said. “The beginning of this is the stabbing. After that, all surgeries of reconstruction have a role in the current situation.”

Birolini and his team said there were no complications during the procedure.

Cardiologist Leandro Echenique described the procedure as Bolsonaro’s “most complex” surgery since the stabbing. The medical team expected the procedure to be as long as it was.

“It is going to be a very delicate and prolonged post-surgery,” Echenique said. The former president is expected to stand trial in the next few months at Brazil’s Supreme Court for allegedly attempting to stage a coup in January, 2023, with riots led by his supporters in Brasilia.

Bolsonaro was admitted Friday to a hospital in Santa Cruz, a small city in Rio Grande do Norte, and later transferred to a hospital in the state’s capital, Natal. On Saturday, his family requested his transfer to Brasilia, doctors said.

Bolsonaro has been in and out of hospitals since the attack at a campaign event before Brazil’s 2018 presidential election. He underwent several surgeries during his presidency from 2019-2022.

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