Brazilian president undergoes surgery related to stabbing

RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro successfully underwent a five-hour surgery on Sunday to correct an abdominal hernia related to a stabbing last year.

It was the fourth surgery Bolsonaro has undergone since being stabbed while campaigning for the presidency.

Presidential spokesman Otavio Rego Barros said the operation was performed at the Vila Nova Star hospital in Sao Paulo.

Dr. Antonio Macedo, who carried out the operation, said the 64-year-old president would be on a liquid diet and hospitalized at least five days. He entered the hospital Saturday evening after presiding over independence day celebrations in Brasilia.

Bolsonaro was stabbed in the abdomen in September 2018 while being carried through a crowd during a campaign rally.

The man who stabbed him, Adelio Bispo de Oliveira, was absolved when a judge determined he was mentally ill and ordered him to be held indefinitely in a prison mental institution.