São Paulo (AP) – Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was hospitalized with abdominal pain while traveling in northeastern Brazil on Friday morning, his party said.
His Liberal Party’s press office said the pain was linked to the long-term effects of the abdominal stab wound he suffered in September 2018.
Bolsonaro has been in and out of the hospital since the incident occurred before Brazil’s 2018 presidential election. Conservative leaders underwent several surgeries during their presidency in 2019-2022.
He was taken to a hospital in the small city of Santa Cruz, Rio Grande do Norte, Northeastern state on Friday. Flavio Bolsonaro, one of his sons, said he will be transferred to a hospital in the state’s capital, Natal.
Bolsonaro plans to start traveling in the Northeast to promote his party’s right-wing agenda, but remains focused on next year’s presidential election, despite being banned from running. Traditionally, the region was a political fortress for President Luis Inasio Lula da Silva.
In March, a Brazilian Supreme Court justice accepted the charges against Bolsenro, who allegedly had ruled after his 2022 election defeat and ordered him to stand trial.
The former president was also banned from running until 2030 by the Brazilian election court because he made baseless claims about the voting machines being manipulated.
