Brazilian far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro has been hospitalised in Orlando, Florida with abdominal pain, media reports said on Monday, a day after his supporters invaded the seat of power in Brasilia.
Bolsonaro, 67, left Brazil for the United States two days before the end of his term, snubbing the traditional handover of the presidential sash when the man who beat him at the polls, veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, took office on January 1.
He has been staying at the Orlando home of Brazilian former mixed martial arts champion Jose Aldo, a stone’s throw from Disney World.
Bolsonaro was admitted to AdventHealth Celebration acute care hospital outside Orlando with “strong abdominal pains,” Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported, a day after he denied Lula’s claim he incited his supporters to storm the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court in the capital.
Bolsonaro has had a series of health problems stemming from a knife attack that nearly claimed his life during his winning 2018 presidential campaign.
He has undergone six surgeries since the stabbing, perpetrated by an attacker who was found mentally unfit to stand trial.
