Brazil’s Bolsonaro to have surgery for hernia next week

RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will have surgery on a hernia that developed following previous operations after he was stabbed at a campaign rally a year ago, hospital authorities say.

The hospital where the surgery will take place next Sunday said in a statement that Bolsonaro’s surgeon was doing a routine checkup and detected an incisional hernia. The surgeon said the president’s health is good.

Bolsonaro told reports Sunday that he would undergo surgery soon.

“It’s a part of life,” he said, choking up. Bolsonaro tweeted earlier that he would take about 10 days off to recuperate.

A presidential spokesperson said Bolsonaro was still planning to attend a meeting of leaders of Amazonian countries Friday in Colombia to discuss conservation efforts.

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.