MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro will undergo hernia surgery

“It's a part of life,” he said, choking up. Bolsonaro tweeted earlier that he would take about ten days off to recuperate.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will have surgery on a hernia that developed following previous operations after he was stabbed at a campaign rally a year ago, hospital authorities said.

The hospital where the surgery will take place next Sunday said in a statement that Bolsonaro's surgeon was doing a routine check-up and detected a hernia. The surgeon said the president's health is good.

Bolsonaro stated on Sunday that he would undergo surgery soon.

“It's a part of life,” he said, choking up. Bolsonaro tweeted earlier that he would take about ten days off to recuperate.

“It is common for an hernia to develop where you have had abdominal surgery,” Leandro Echenique one of Bolsonaro's doctors said. “This is a surgical correction ... the president is doing very well health-wise.”

A presidential spokesperson said Bolsonaro was still planning to attend a meeting of leaders of Amazonian countries Friday in Colombia to discuss conservation efforts.

Bolsonaro was stabbed in the abdomen in September 2018 while being carried through a crowd during a campaign rally.

The man who stabbed him, Adelio Bispo de Oliveira, was absolved when a judge determined he was mentally ill and ordered him to be held indefinitely in a prison mental institution.