Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro is out of intensive care but still hospitalized, doctors say

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SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, who continues to recover after undergoing bowel surgery, has left intensive care, his doctors said Thursday.

The medical team at the DF Star Hospital in Brasilia said that he left intensive care on Wednesday and there is no set discharge date from the facility. His health condition is stable and he has begun receiving a liquid diet.

Bolsonaro underwent a 12-hour surgery on April 13 to remove intestinal adhesions and reconstruct the abdominal wall. It was the sixth procedure related to long-term effects of being stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign rally in September 2018.

He has been in and out of hospitals since the attack and underwent multiple surgeries during his presidency from 2019-2022.

Doctors described the latest surgery as the “most complex” since the stabbing, requiring a “very delicate and prolonged post-surgery.”

Bolsonaro was admitted with severe abdominal pain to a hospital in Santa Cruz, a small city in Rio Grande do Norte, on April 11 and then transferred to a hospital in the state’s capital, Natal. His family later requested his transfer to Brasilia.

He had been preparing for a trip across northeast Brazil to promote his Liberal Party’s right-wing agenda, eyeing next year’s presidential election, though he himself is barred from running. The region traditionally has been a political bastion of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro is expected to stand trial in the next few months at Brazil’s Supreme Court for allegedly attempting to stage a coup in January 2023, with riots led by his supporters in Brasilia.

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