MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro moved to intensive care with bronchopneumonia as family renews house arrest plea

Doctors have ruled out surgery for now and said Bolsonaro is expected to remain hospitalized for several days

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was admitted on Friday to the intensive care unit of Brasília’s DF Star hospital after being transferred from prison with high fever, low oxygen saturation, sweating and chills. The medical bulletin said tests confirmed bilateral bacterial bronchopneumonia and that the former president is receiving intravenous antibiotics and non-invasive clinical support.

Doctors have ruled out surgery for now and said Bolsonaro is expected to remain hospitalized for several days. According to the hospital, his condition requires intensive monitoring, though no sharper deterioration beyond the ICU admission has so far been reported.

The hospitalization immediately revived pressure from his family and political allies for him to serve his sentence under house arrest. Outside the hospital, his son Flávio Bolsonaro said authorities were “playing with” his father’s life and called for “humanitarian house arrest.” Bolsonaro’s lawyers had already made that request before the Supreme Court, but it was rejected in early March by Justice Alexandre de Moraes and later upheld by the court’s First Panel.

Bolsonaro, 70, is serving a 27-year prison sentence for his role in the conspiracy to overturn the result of the 2022 election. His health has been fragile in recent years, largely because of complications stemming from the stabbing he suffered during the 2018 presidential campaign, as well as repeated medical episodes including surgeries, persistent hiccups and vomiting.

The medical episode also comes at a politically sensitive moment in Brazil. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, now the leading Bolsonaro-aligned contender for October’s presidential election, is in a technical tie with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a possible runoff, according to a Datafolha poll reported by CNN Brasil, which showed Lula at 46% and Flávio at 43%, within the margin of error.

The hospitalization also unfolds amid fresh diplomatic tension between Brazil and the United States over the failed attempt by U.S. adviser Darren Beattie to visit Bolsonaro in prison. That dispute, combined with the former president’s clinical deterioration, underlines Bolsonaro’s continued political weight even from jail.

For now, the immediate focus is his medical evolution. But in Brasília, Bolsonaro’s health cannot be fully separated from the political and judicial calendar surrounding him.