Former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro underwent an exhausting emergency surgery resulting from a failed attempt on his life by a socialist in 2018.

Bolsonaro was treated for an intestinal subocclusion, which resulted from complications from previous surgeries stemming from Bolsonaro's stabbing in 2018 by Adelio Bispo de Oliveira.

Oliveira was a registered member of the Socialism and Liberty Party and claimed that he had been given a divine mission to kill Bolsonaro, who is a close ally of President Donald Trump.

Bolsonaro survived the initial stabbing thanks to a marathon five surgeries to fix the immediate damage caused to his stomach and intestines.

Gruelling Recovery

Unfortunately, Sunday’s surgery was the longest at 12 hours, with sources close to Bolsonaro saying his condition on Friday was the worst since the stab wound suffered during the 2018 presidential campaign.

Brazilian doctor Cláudio Birolini explained, "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. 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.”

However, Birolini explained that Bolsonaro's journey is far from over as there is more work to be done even after the massive 12-hour surgery.

Birolini reported that "Adhesions will form, that’s inevitable. A patient who has a hostile abdomen, no matter how much you loosen everything, these adhesions will form. 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.”

So far so good

So far, things are going well for Bolsonaro, but the question is, how many more surgeries and interventions will he need before he is fully recovered from this attack that happened seven years ago?

Bolsonaro himself took to social media with a video where he said, "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."

He continued by saying, "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. Hugs to everyone. Thank you, God."

Bolsonaro's Legal Battles

Bolsonaro is also fighting an extensive legal battle after the Brazilian Supreme Court put him on trial last month for allegedly trying to spark a coup to overthrow the government following the 2022 presidential election.

The confirmation of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was met with outrage and extensive protests by rightwing Brazilians and now the Brazilian government is trying to pin Bolsonaro as a leader of a "coup," which in reality appears to have been simple protests that eventually died out.

Prosecutors claim that Bolsonaro caused a "coup" because he discredited the Brazilian election process. The case against Bolsonaro is similar to the one that Democrats made against President Donald Trump for questioning the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Hopefully, Bolsonaro will recover quickly as he has an incredibly important battle to fight for Brazilian conservatives working to reverse the progress of corruption in Brazil.