BRASÍLIA, Oct 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva returned to his official residence on Sunday, just two days after a hip replacement operation, his office announced.
Lula, 77, “is at the Alvorada Palace” where he will continue his recovery, the president’s office said.
The veteran leader later posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he would “work for the next few weeks” from the residence.
“Thank you for the prayers and messages of affection,” he said, adding jokingly that he was “recovering to work even more for Brazil and to run a marathon.”
The Syrian-Lebanese hospital in Brasilia, where the operation took place on Friday, confirmed that the head of state had left the establishment “after making good clinical progress.”
Doctors said Friday that the hip replacement surgery had gone off “without complications” and that Lula could probably leave the hospital no later than Tuesday.
While he will likely need a walker to get around at first, the image-conscious Lula has said he will not be photographed “with a walker or on crutches. You will see me handsome, as always.”
The operation and recovery will require a temporary pause in the busy schedule of foreign trips Lula has maintained since taking office in January.
At the same time, Lula’s personal physician Roberto Kalil Filho said the head of state should be able to travel to the UN climate conference in Dubai in late November.
That session holds particular importance for Lula, a self-proclaimed champion of the environment who has promised to end Amazon deforestation by 2030.
Lula, a former trade union leader, was previously president from 2003 to 2010. Last year he defeated president Jair Bolsonaro in elections in a stunning return to power.
He has survived previous health problems: a bout with throat cancer in 2011, vocal-cord surgery last November and, last March, a case of pneumonia. — NNN-AGENCIES
