MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayan president allegedly “recovering”, back in office next Wednesday

The former bishop is undergoing treatment for a lymphoma

Paraguay's cancer-stricken president Fernando Lugo is “lucid, ”perfectly fine” and will not require surgery at this point, his doctor said Sunday. The president is currently undergoing treatment at the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital in San Paolo, Brazil.

His doctor, Alfredo Boccia, said the president had a blood clot, which is not an uncommon side effect of chemotherapy.

“The clot has broken up in an important way. This is extremely positive and takes the president out of the risky situation that he was in,” Boccia said in a statement.

He added Lugo will not require surgery at this point and that he is “perfectly fine, lucid, and without problems and pain.”

Paraguay's president was diagnosed in August with a lymphoma, a cancer affecting the immune system. It was detected at an early stage.

He was admitted to a hospital in Paraguay's capital Asunción Thursday, and later transferred to the hospital in Brazil to avoid possible complications, said Boccia.

Lugo, 59, was suffering from redness and swelling around the face. Doctors initially were concerned the president might have had an infection.

Doctor Boccia said President Lugo could be back in Paraguay next Wednesday.

A sharp deterioration in Lugo's health could force him to cede power temporarily to Vice-President Federico Franco, who has often clashed with the former bishop over his populist policies, but has vowed not to take advantage of his illness.

Franco, a doctor who formed an alliance with Lugo to run for office, has taken over presidential duties until Lugo returns to Paraguay. He would take over as president of the world's No. 4 soy exporting nation if Lugo died and then call elections for a new vice president.

A power struggle could put at risk a decade of political stability that followed a volatile period after the end of Alfredo Stroessner's dictatorship in 1989.

Lugo has dismissed his top military chiefs four times since becoming president, the last time in August in a basic reorganization. Last November, he replaced the heads of the army, navy and air force after denying rumours of a possible coup amid growing opposition criticism of his government.

Lugo has said the disease will not impede his work. He has also been under pressure to crack down on armed groups charged with kidnappings and killings in a remote cattle-raising region near the Brazilian border. The rebels have terrified ranchers but have had little impact on overall investment in the land-locked country.