Conservative former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro underwent a 12-hour-long emergency surgery in Brasília on Sunday to treat an intestinal subocclusion, a complication stemming from prior surgeries he received as a result of a failed assassination attempt in 2018.
The extensive surgery, which doctors described as the longest and most complex since Bolsonaro was stabbed in 2018, was originally slated to run for about six hours on Sunday morning (local time), but lasted a total of 12 hours and extended throughout the evening.
Bolsonaro published a message while hospitalized on Saturday, prior to the operation.
- Hospital Rio Grande
— Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) April 12, 2025
- Natal/RN
- 12 Abr 12h10 Sábado
- Jair Bolsonaro pic.twitter.com/0K1FK5RMfY
Brazilian doctor Cláudio Birolini, who led the surgical team that operated on Bolsonaro, informed reporters on Monday that the former president, who is currently at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the DF Star hospital in Brasília, “is not expected to evolve quickly” and will remain in the ICU until he is fully recovered. The doctor stressed that Bolsonaro’s intestine was “quite suffering” and that the medical team believes that he had been “suffering from this condition for a few months.”
“There are no great expectations of a rapid evolution. We need to let his intestine rest, deflate, resume its activity, and only then think about oral feeding,” Birolini said. “Now, we have this first phase of the post-operative period, which is the first 48 hours, which are quite critical. After 48 hours, we enter another phase, which is a little calmer.”
Birolini pointed out that although the surgery was successful, the problem “has not been 100 percent resolved” and that “new adhesions will form.”
“Adhesions will form, that’s inevitable. A patient who has a hostile abdomen, no matter how much you loosen everything, these adhesions will form,” Birolini explained. “In the immediate postoperative period, these adhesions will form, and this means that recovery in the next few days will be a little slower, and we have no intention of speeding this up.”
Cardiologist Leandro Echenique asserted that, despite the complexity of the surgery, the results were excellent and that there were no complications.
“There was a lot of adhesion [in the intestine], but the result was excellent. There were no complications, and all preventative measures will be taken,” Echenique said, and added that Bolsonaro is “awake, conscious and has already made another joke there.”
Over the past years, Bolsonaro has suffered from recurring health complications after a man identified as Adelio Bispo de Oliveira stabbed Bolsonaro in September 2018 during a presidential campaign event. Bispo de Oliveira had been a registered member of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) and told police he believed God had tasked him with killing Bolsonaro.
Since then, Bolsonaro has undergone five surgeries to fix the immediate damage caused to his stomach and intestine and to address complications derived from the initial stabbing and subsequent surgeries. Sunday’s emergency procedure was the longest at 12 hours. Birolini reportedly stated that Bolsonaro’s condition on Friday was the worst since the stab wound suffered during the 2018 presidential campaign.
“The starting point is the stab wound. The initial surgeries and then the other surgeries. They all have a contributing pathological factor, a role in the current condition,” Birolini told reporters. “So the aim of this surgery was to reverse all these factors that could contribute to a recurrence of a condition like this. So the starting point, let’s be clear to everyone, was the stab wound.”
On Friday, one of Bolsonaro’s sons, Carlos Bolsonaro, informed on social media that the former president was urgently admitted at hospital in Rio Grande do Norte after he began experiencing severe abdominal pain, where doctors evaluated him for adhesion reflexes as a consequence of the stabbing incident. On Saturday, Jair Bolsonaro published a video on social media informing that he was likely to be transferred to Brasília to undergo surgery.
“Hello, friends. I’m at the Rio Grande Hospital here in Natal. Yesterday I received emergency help at the Hospital in Santa Cruz, Rio Grande do Norte. There’s a very good chance that I’ll be transferred to Brasilia to continue treatment and possible surgery.”
“In addition, I would like to thank all the masters and nurses at these two hospitals for the kind and attentive way in which I was cared for. As for our friends in Rio Grande do Norte, we’ll be back soon to fulfill the agenda we started yesterday,” he continued. “Hugs to everyone. Thank you, God.”
In a separate Friday social media post, Bolsonaro said that “moments like this remind us of the fragility of the flesh and the strength that comes from faith, family, and those who remain by our side, even at a distance.”
“With the help of the doctors and God’s protection, I will soon be back, ready to resume my mission of touring the five regions of Brazil,” the message read. “We remain firm. With serenity, confidence and a lot of faith in God.”
According to Bolsonaro’s medical team, visits are heavily restricted and only doctors and those authorized by former Brazilian First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro are allowed in so as to preserve the rest Bolsonaro needs for recovery.
“Medical visits are constant, as we are on call all the time. Family visits are allowed. I’ve talked to the team and to Mrs. Michelle about restricting it as much as possible,” Birolini said. “The former president likes to talk a lot, but we need to keep him calm in a private environment.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
