MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Uruguayan President Lacalle Herrera hospitalized in BA

“I am being treated with very strong antibiotics,” Lacalle said in a Zoom appearance from his hospital room

Former Uruguayan President Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera has been hospitalized in Buenos Aires to receive antibiotic treatment for a spider bite, according to local press reports.

The father of current Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou was in the Argentine capital to unveil a monument to his own grandfather, former Congressman Luis Alberto de Herrera, in a ceremony he shared with Buenos Aires Mayor and Presidential hopeful Horacio Rodríguez Larreta as well as with Uruguayan Ambassador Carlos Enciso.

According to Montevideo's El País, the octogenarian leader is receiving intravenous treatment and will remain hospitalized for 48 hours.

In a Zoom broadcast from the Mater Dei clinic, the former president insisted in a joyful spirit that the spider was Uruguayan and that he would not want to cause any international controversy.

As per Buenos Aires' Clarín, after the unveiling, the former president's foot swelled and he had to be admitted to the medical center. Enciso said Lacalle Herrera was admitted after midday this Thursday due to a “process of pain in his leg, in the ankle area,” the newspaper also reported.

“I am being treated with very strong antibiotics because the infection caused by a bug bite has worsened,” said Lacalle Herrera in a videoconference with the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI).

Luis Alberto de Herrera served as a deputy and senator in Uruguay for several decades and was a central figure in the National Party for more than 50 years.