Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro hospitalized with abdominal pain

SAO PAULO — Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was hospitalized Friday morning with abdominal pain while traveling in northeastern Brazil, his political party said.

The pain was related to long-term effects of a stabbing to the abdomen he suffered in September 2018, the press office of his Liberal Party said.

Bolsonaro has been in and out of hospitals since the incident at a campaign event before Brazil’s 2018 presidential election. The conservative leader underwent several surgeries during his presidency from 2019 to 2022.

He was admitted Friday to a hospital in Santa Cruz, a small city in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte. Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, one of his sons, said he would be transferred to a hospital in the state’s capital, Natal.

On Friday afternoon, the medical team assisting Bolsonaro at Rio Grande Hospital said that his condition was stable and there was no indication for surgery. The former president would undergo additional imaging exams, they added.

Bolsonaro was set to start a trip across the northeastern region to promote his party’s right-wing agenda, eyeing next year’s presidential election, though he himself is barred from running. The region traditionally has been a political bastion of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

In March, a panel of Brazil Supreme Court justices accepted charges against Bolsonaro over an alleged attempt to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat, and ordered him to stand trial.

The former president was also barred from running for office until 2030 by Brazil’s electoral court, for making unfounded claims that voting machines were rigged.

Pessoa writes for the Associated Press.