SAO PAULO (AP) 鈥 Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro was discharged from the hospital Sunday three weeks after undergoing surgery for a bowel obstruction.
The medical team at the DF Star Hospital in Brasilia, the country's capital, said that he left intensive care on Wednesday but spent the past days recovering before being released Sunday. His health condition is stable and he started on a liquid diet, his doctors said.
Bolsonaro appeared stiff and solemn as he walked outside. But his face brightened as he greeted a cheering crowd of supporters waving Brazilian flags and filming with their phones. 鈥淗allelujah!" some shouted.
鈥淭his cap goes to our President," said Ronaldo de Barretos, a supporter outside the hospital showing off a baseball cap that bore Bolsonaro鈥檚 campaign slogan 鈥 鈥淕od, homeland, family and freedom.鈥
Bolsonaro was admitted with severe abdominal pain to a hospital in Santa Cruz, a small city in Rio Grande do Norte, on April 11 and transferred to a hospital in the state鈥檚 capital, Natal. His family later requested his transfer to Brasilia.
The right-wing leader's intestinal obstruction is related to a stabbing injury he suffered in September 2018 as he campaigned for president. He has been since the attack and underwent multiple surgeries during his presidency, from 2019-2022.
Doctors described this latest surgery last month, his sixth, as the most difficult.
Before undergoing surgery, Bolsonaro had been preparing for a trip across northeast Brazil to promote his Liberal Party鈥檚 right-wing agenda, eyeing next year鈥檚 presidential election in Brazil, though he himself is barred from running. The region traditionally has been a political bastion of President .
Bolsonaro is expected to at Brazil鈥檚 Supreme Court for allegedly attempting to stage a coup in January 2023, with riots led by his supporters in Brasilia.
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