Adriano Machado / REUTERS
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The Brazilian president was released from intensive care this Friday after his operation for a hemorrhage near the brain.
“I’m in great shape!” In a video showing him walking and smiling in hospital, Brazilian President Lula, 79, tried on Friday to reassure people about his state of health after his operation for a hemorrhage near the brain. On Tuesday, the announcement of the head of state’s emergency surgery, linked to a domestic accident in October, had taken all of Brazil by surprise, as he reaches the middle of his term and two years before the 2026 presidential election.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was released from intensive care on Friday, but he remains under observation until his release from the Syrian-Lebanese hospital in Sao Paulo, scheduled for early next week. The first images of him after the operation show him in jogging pants, sneakers and a blue T-shirt, walking down a hospital corridor joking alongside neurosurgeon Marcos Stavale. A long bandage covers the top of his head.
“Be calm”
“I am sure that this image has brought peace to all those who worry and have affection for the president ,” the First Lady said in the message that accompanied the images. The left-wing president has been in “semi-intensive care” since Friday , according to the latest medical bulletin published by the prestigious hospital in the economic capital Sao Paulo.
According to a source in the presidency, the head of state remains in the same room, but under intermittent observation, and no longer continuously 24 hours a day, as was the case since Tuesday in intensive care. Lula is “in perfect neurological condition” , said Dr. Marcos Stavale at a press conference on Thursday, after a second operation in the morning intended to reduce the risk of new hemorrhages near the brain. After this operation, which consists of introducing a catheter into the femoral artery, the risk of a new hemorrhage is “less than 5%” , according to the doctors.
Electronic signature
According to the medical team, Lula should be able to leave the hospital on Monday or Tuesday. Once back at the presidential palace in Brasilia, the head of state will be able to “resume a work schedule” , but his convalescence “requires relative rest for a few weeks” , warned his personal doctor, Roberto Kalil.
Clearly seeking to deny any impression of uncertainty at the top of the state, figures from the ruling camp have nevertheless taken pains to describe a Lula at work. On Thursday, his Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, assured that he “continuously exercises his activity as President of the Republic” , having for example signed official documents electronically.
The hemorrhage that led to his hospitalization was linked to a domestic accident on October 19, when he hit the back of his head in a fall in the bathroom of his official residence. The fall required several stitches and forced him to cancel his trip to Russia for the BRICS summit. But he then resumed his normal activities, with a particularly busy schedule, hosting the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro on November 18 and 19, the forum of the world’s leading economies.
Returning to power in 2023 after two initial terms (2003-2010), Lula defeated far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in the second round of the presidential election in October 2022, after a dagger-drawn campaign. It is widely believed that the champion of the left was recently preparing, without publicly confirming it, for a new candidacy in 2026. But his health problems are casting doubt, while he currently has no obvious political heir.
Reuters
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