Bolsonaro underwent a 12-hour surgery on April 13 to remove intestinal adhesions and reconstruct the abdominal wall. It was the sixth procedure related to long-term effects of being stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign rally in September 2018.
He has been in and out of hospitals since the attack and underwent multiple surgeries during his presidency from 2019-2022.
Doctors described the latest surgery as the “most complex” since the stabbing, requiring a “very delicate and prolonged post-surgery.”
Bolsonaro was admitted with severe abdominal pain to a hospital in Santa Cruz, a small city in Rio Grande do Norte, on April 11 and then transferred to a hospital in the state’s capital, Natal. His family later requested his transfer to Brasilia.
He had been preparing for a trip across northeast Brazil to promote his Liberal Party's right-wing agenda, eyeing next year's presidential election, though he himself is barred from running. The region traditionally has been a political bastion of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro 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.
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