BRASILIA (AFP) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday he was “very optimistic” about the hip surgery he will undergo on Friday and pledged that he would not be seen with a walker. So as not to give people an image of weakness.
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“I will take care of myself, I am very optimistic (…) I am sure that I will recover (from anesthesia and surgery),” Lula, 77, declared on his weekly show. “Conversations with the President” via social networks spread.
The head of state will undergo a hip replacement on Friday in Brasilia, to install a prosthetic leg and relieve the pain he has suffered for months from osteoarthritis.
Lula assured that he will be able to “work normally” during his recovery, but he will put his intense travel schedule on hold and will stay in Brasilia for a few weeks.
The Brazilian leader, who attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week, plans to resume his travels at the end of November to attend the United Nations climate conference COP28 in the United Arab Emirates.
After the surgery, Lula may need a walker to get around, but he said he would not use one in public on the advice of official photographers.
“They don’t see me with a walker or a cane, they always see me looking good, as if I haven’t had surgery,” he said with a laugh.
Lula admitted that he had been delaying action since last year’s campaign for fear of conveying an image of weakness.
Lula defeated his predecessor, far-right Jair Bolsonaro, in a tight second-round contest in October 2022.
The president has been energetic since taking office for his third term in January, visiting several Brazilian states and tackling a busy international agenda.
But his health has been a source of concern in recent years.
In November last year, Lula underwent surgery to remove a lesion in his larynx.
In 2011, Lula was diagnosed with throat cancer and had the tumor removed. Since then, medical results have shown the cancer is in complete remission.
At the end of March, he had to postpone his state visit to China for several days due to pneumonia.
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