Brazil’s president discharged from hospital following brain bleed surgery
15 December 2024, 16:34
Mr Lula’s medical team said the surgery went well.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was discharged from hospital on Sunday after undergoing surgery to stop a brain bleed.
The president, 79, spoke alongside doctors in a press conference on Sunday morning in a show that he was doing well following the surgery.
“I’m here alive, well, with the urge to work. And I’ll tell you something I used to say during the campaign. I’m 79 years old, I have the energy of 30 and the enthusiasm of 20 to build this country,” Mr Lula said.
His medical team said the surgery went well and that he would be able to walk and hold meetings as he rests in his home in the city of Sao Paolo until Thursday.
The leader’s doctors said international travel would be out of the question until further notice, but that he would be able to travel to the country’s capital, Brasilia, if all goes well.
Mr Lula had suffered a fall at his home in October.
The president also offered his first comments on Saturday’s arrest of General Walter Braga Netto, a former member of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro’s government and his 2022 running mate, in connection with investigations into an alleged coup plot.
Mr Lula has largely avoided commenting on the case because of ongoing investigations.
“It is not possible for us to accept disrespect for democracy, disrespect for the constitution. And it is not possible for us to accept that in a generous country like Brazil we have people of high military rank plotting the death of a president, his vice president and a presiding judge of the supreme electoral court,” said Mr Lula.
Braga Netto was indicted in November, along with Mr Bolsonaro and 35 others, on charges of plotting a coup to keep Mr Bolsonaro in office after his failed 2022 re-election bid.
Prosecutors have not yet filed formal charges against Braga Netto. His arrest was related to allegations of obstructing the collection of evidence, the federal police said in a statement.
