Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has posted an update about his health to social media, after undergoing a sixth abdominal surgery that he says is related to a stabbing he endured on the campaign trail in 2018.
On Tuesday, the embattled far-right leader shared a video of himself walking through a hospital corridor, electrodes taped to his bare chest and a walker keeping his steps steady. A team of medical staff flanked him on either side.
“Don’t give up! Let’s move forward, Brazil!” Bolsonaro wrote in a caption alongside the video.
In a second message, he explained that he remained in relative isolation, as his condition is delicate. Following his doctors’ advice, he said he is interacting only with family members and healthcare professionals in an effort to take “maximum caution” during his recovery.
“I remain focused on the recovery process, which from what I understand was the most invasive procedure that has ever occurred,” he said.
Last Friday, Bolsonaro announced he was forced to call off a rally in the northeastern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte after he suffered “severe abdominal pain”, resulting from “a complication in the small intestine”.
The 70-year-old was hospitalised first at the Aluizio Bezerra Municipal Hospital in Santa Cruz, then at the Rio Grande Hospital in Natal, before being transferred to the capital, Brasilia.
His most recent surgery took place on Sunday at the DF Star Hospital. The procedure lasted 12 hours, according to the president and his allies.
In his latest pair of updates, Bolsonaro took a swipe at his rivals in the Workers’ Party, known as the PT. He emphasised that his stabbing in September 2018 came at the hands of a “former member of the PSOL [the Socialism and Liberty Party], a historical ally of the PT”.
Allies of Bolsonaro have repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that left-wing leaders masterminded the attack, which took place as he was carried through a crowd of supporters during a campaign rally in Juiz de Fora. Federal police in Brazil have not found any connections between the PT and the attack.
But Bolsonaro has long been accused of spreading conspiracy theories, particularly as it pertains to his electoral rivals.
While on the campaign trail, both in 2018 and 2022, he spread rumours that Brazil’s electronic voting machines were unreliable and rife with fraud, an unsubstantiated claim.
Those comments led to him being banned from holding public office until 2030, with the justices of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court finding he had abused his power while president to instil fears about the voting system.
Bolsonaro served as Brazil’s president from 2019 to 2022. Since leaving office, he has faced a series of legal battles, including over whether he participated in efforts to destabilise the government of his successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Lula is a member of the PT party, and in October 2022, he narrowly beat Bolsonaro in a run-off election to earn a third, nonconsecutive term as president.
But turmoil rocked the post-election period. Bolsonaro refused to publicly acknowledge his defeat, although media reports indicate he did so privately. Nevertheless, his supporters blocked roadways and even stormed Brasilia’s police headquarters, as they sought to prevent Lula from taking power.
Bolsonaro and his allies also attempted to challenge the results in court, but Justice Alexandre de Moraes found that their complaint was made in “total bad faith” and levied a $4.3m fine.
The tensions reached a boiling point shortly after Lula’s inauguration. On January 8, 2023, thousands of rioters descended on the Three Powers Plaza in Brasilia, home to government buildings for Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidency.
There, they clashed with police and vandalised several of the buildings, smashing windows, furniture and decorations.
Lula called the attack a coup attempt and has pushed for justice. Although Bolsonaro was in Florida at the time of the January 8 attack, critics have accused him and his allies of secretly pushing for the military to overthrow Lula.
On March 26, Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to stand trial for allegedly leading an attempted coup d’etat.
Federal police had issued an 884-page report in November last year indicting Bolsonaro and 36 others for allegedly engaging in a criminal conspiracy that would have involved murdering Lula, his vice president and Justice de Moraes.
The idea was to create a circumstance wherein a caretaker government would be created and Bolsonaro would return to power, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors have filed multiple charges against Bolsonaro, including that he sought the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. Bolsonaro, meanwhile, has maintained his innocence and said he is the victim of political persecution.
