Former Brazil President Bolsonaro hospitalized with abdominal pain

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

(Reuters) -Former President Jair Bolsonaro was stable and without symptoms after being hospitalized earlier on Friday in northeast Brazil with abdominal pain, forcing him to break off a regional tour aimed at drumming up political support.

The former president interrupted a political event with supporters in the state of Rio Grande do Norte after feeling “strong” pain and was taken via helicopter to a hospital in the state capital Natal, his political party said in a note. 

Bolsonaro is in stable condition with no symptoms, his local medical team said. There was no estimate for when he could be discharged, doctors said.

In a social media post, Bolsonaro wrote that, according to the latest information he received, he will not need to undergo surgery for now.

During the day, Bolsonaro underwent scans to determine whether an intestinal obstruction would require surgery. His doctor Antonio Macedo told Reuters that, if surgery were needed, Bolsonaro could be transferred to Sao Paulo, where he had received procedures related to a stabbing attack ahead of the 2018 election.

In his post, the former president said that he hopes to soon feel better to continue traveling around the country.

Bolsonaro, a hard-right former army captain who served as president from 2019 to 2022, has been campaigning around Brazil for Congress to pass an amnesty bill for his supporters who stormed the capital Brasilia after he lost the 2022 election.

Brazil’s Supreme Court decided last month to put Bolsonaro on trial for allegedly conspiring to overthrow the government after that electoral loss. He has denied any wrongdoing and called the trial an example of left-wing “lawfare” targeting conservative leaders like himself and France’s Marine Le Pen.

Bolsonaro has already been banned from running for office until 2030 for discrediting the country’s voting system. If the Supreme Court finds him guilty, he could face a long prison sentence.

Still, the right-wing leader insists he will run in next year’s presidential election, casting himself as the best candidate to confront leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose popularity has slipped amid high inflation. 

(Reporting by Luciana Magalhaes in Sao Paulo, Ricardo Brito in Brasilia and Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro; Writing by Isabel Teles, Oliver Griffin and Luciana Magalhaes; Editing by Brad Haynes, Nia Williams and Deepa Babington)