Brazil’s Bolsonaro admitted to hospital for surgery

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro was in hospital in Sao Paulo on Sunday for surgery to remove a colostomy bag put in after he was attacked by a man with a knife during his election campaign.

His spokesman, General Otavio Santana do Rego Barros, said Saturday that Bolsonaro would be operated on Monday, after which he would be on strict bed rest for two days.

Vice President Hamilton Mourao will assume the president’s duties during that time, he said.

The 63-year-old president entered the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein on Sunday morning for tests before the surgery.

He was stabbed in the stomach on September 6 during a campaign rally in Juiz de Fora, in the state of Minas Gerais.

Adelo Bispo de Oliveira was arrested and a police investigation concluded he acted out of political motivations, but that no one else was involved.

Bolsonaro supporters have questioned that conclusion, and the president himself highlighted Bispo’s past links to the leftist Socialism and Liberty Party.

In a parallel case, the federal public prosecutor’s office this month extended for 90 days an investigation into who is paying the lawyers defending Bispo.