RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) \u2014 Brazilian President\u00a0Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva\u00a0was recovering in a hospital Friday after undergoing a successful\u00a0hip replacement\u00a0operation, which is likely to put a temporary halt to his frequent international trips but otherwise not disrupt his activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Roberto Kalil told journalists Friday that\u00a0the leftist leader\u00a0would soon be transferred to his room at the Hospital Sirio-Libanes in capital Brasilia, after successful surgery that required a general anesthesia and lasted between two and three hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lula, 77, is expected to spend a few days in the hospital and to return to the presidential palace early next week. Lula also underwent minor eyelid surgery, Kalil said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government had said Lula would remain president throughout instead of temporarily passing authority to Vice President Geraldo Alckmin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe impact of Lula\u2019s surgery will probably be small and should not affect the decision-making process or negotiations in a significant way,\u201d said Paulo Calmon, a political science professor at the University of Brasilia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recovery for hip replacement surgery varies from patient to patient, but most can resume light, day-to-day activities within three to six weeks, according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Many patients initially use a cane, crutches or a walker until balance and strength improve to avoid falls that could jeopardize the surgery\u2019s success, the orthopedic organization said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Lula joked Tuesday that nobody would see him with any type of walking aid. \u201cYou won\u2019t see me with a walker, you won\u2019t see me with crutches. You\u2019ll always see me as beautiful as if I hadn\u2019t even had surgery,\u201d Lula said, adding that he has been in pain since August of last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lula is the oldest president in Brazil\u2019s history. During the 2022 election campaign, he often joked that despite being over 70, \u201cI have the energy of a 30-year-old and the lust of a 20-year-old.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having served two previous presidential terms, in 2003-2010, Lula said during the campaign that if he won he had no intention of running for a fourth four-year term. However, he said in July that U.S. President Joe Biden\u2019s reelection campaign was an \u201cencouragement\u201d for him to run again in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lula has been busy since taking office Jan. 1 from the man he defeated in the October 2022 runoff election, right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. After\u00a0vowing to \u201cbring Brazil back\u201d\u00a0onto the world stage, Lula has traveled to 21 countries, including United States, China, France, India, Argentina and Angola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe tried to include all these crucial trips before the surgery,\u201d said Oliver Stuenkel, an associate professor of international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Sao Paulo. \u201cNow he can\u2019t continue to travel like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week the president wore a mask to public events, following medical directives to lessen the risk of contracting a respiratory illness before his operation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) \u2014 Brazilian President\u00a0Luiz In\u00e1cio L […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2842,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2840\/revisions\/2842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}