The 70-year-old former leader is seeking to make a political comeback even as he faces a criminal trial.
Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former far-right president, has been declared stable and without symptoms but remains in hospital, after complaining of abdominal pain, forcing him to break off a regional tour in northeast Brazil aimed at drumming up political support.
The latest health complication on Friday comes six years after Bolsonaro was stabbed in the stomach just weeks before the 2018 presidential elections, which he later won.
The 70-year-old, who is seeking to make a political comeback even as he faces a criminal trial, started feeling “unbearable abdominal pain” at a political event in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte, a senior member of his Liberal Party said.
“After so many similar episodes over the past few years, I had gotten used to the pain and discomfort. But this time, even the doctors were surprised,” Bolsonaro said in a social media post Saturday.
Bolsonaro also said he would likely undergo another surgery.
Earlier, doctors at Rio Grande Hospital told journalists he was stable and not in need of emergency surgery. They said further procedures would depend on his recovery.
In July 2023, a Brazilian court barred Bolsonaro from holding public office until 2030 after convicting him of abuse of power in his push to cast doubt on the South American country’s electronic voting system. Bolsonaro, who served as president from 2019 to 2022, lost to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
He has been hoping the ban will be overturned to give him a shot at a return to power in the style of his idol, United States President Donald Trump.
But those plans were dimmed last month when Bolsonaro was ordered by the Supreme Court in March to stand trial on charges of plotting a coup against Lula.
If convicted, the former army captain risks a jail term of more than 40 years, and political banishment.
Dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics”, Bolsonaro has been the target of multiple investigations since his turbulent years as leader of Latin America’s biggest economy.
Bolsonaro, who is hoping to make a comeback in the 2026 presidential elections, was set to start a political tour of Rio Grande do Norte on Friday.
The former president has undergone at least four surgeries since his stabbing, including the placement and subsequent removal of a colostomy bag, which made him prone to intestinal disorders.
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