Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is being monitored in the ICU unit of São Paulo’s Hospital Sírio-Libanês, following an emergency craniotomy in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Dec. 10, to drain blood that accumulated in the area of his brain affected when he fell last Oct. 19. The procedure, which lasted around two hours, was performed without incident. By 9 a.m. that same morning, his doctors reported that he was conscious, speaking normally, with no sequelae expected. No damage to the brain was seen. He will be kept under observation in ICU for 48 hours, and in the hospital some days after that, and if things continue to go well, may be able to return to Brasilia in the beginning of next week, the doctors estimate. Thus, while Vice President Geraldo Alckmin is carrying out meetings which President Lula had scheduled for these days, no official transfer of power, even temporary, to the Vice President is planned.
The first meeting on President Lula’s agenda this Tuesday morning had been with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, who arrived in Brazil on Dec. 8 with several ministers for a several-day visit, the first-ever visit by a Slovakian Prime Minister. Received by Vice President Alckmin, Fico asked Alckmin to send best wishes for a speedy recovery to the President from himself and also on behalf of all Slovakians, “because the world needs people like your president…. He is a world-class leader.”
The Brazilian Presidential office Planalto reported that “restoring peace in the Middle East and Ukraine” were among the issues on the agenda for dialogue between the two countries’ leaders. “Vice-President Alckmin thanked Prime Minister Robert Fico for his support for the `Common Understanding’ between China and Brazil on the political resolution of the war in Ukraine and the establishment of the Group of Friends of Peace within the United Nations,” Planalto reported. Strengthening economic and trade ties and reforming global governance were also on the agenda, and several agreements were signed in the areas of defense, intelligence, and EU-related matters.
