Brazil’s ex-president has throat cancer

Brazil’s popular ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the South American country’s first elected leftist president, has been diagnosed with throat cancer, the hospital treating him says.

Following a series of tests, the 66-year-old Lula ‘was diagnosed with a tumour located in his larynx’ and will receive out-patient chemotherapy treatment, the Sirio-Libanes Hospital of Sao Paulo stated in a statement on Saturday.

‘The patient is doing well,’ the hospital said.

The news came as a shock to Brazilians, who adore the former metalworker. Lula’s social programs helped lift 29 million Brazilians out of poverty, and his foreign policy helped turn Brazil into a global power player.

President Dilma Rousseff, a Lula protege and his successor, warmly wished her former boss a speedy recovery.

‘Thanks to preventative exams, the tumour was discovered at a stage that grants it to be treated and cured,’ she said.

‘With his strength, determination and capacity to overcome all types of adversity,’ Lula ‘will also overcome this challenge’, Rousseff said.

Lula left power with a soaring 80 per cent approval rating after two consecutive terms from January 2003 to December 2010. Brazil’s constitution prohibits a third consecutive term.

Jose Crispiniano, a spokesman for the Citizenship Institute that Lula created after leaving office, stated the ex-president – a former smoker – went to the hospital on Friday complaining of throat pain.

Lula, who is known for his raspy voice, was ‘even more hoarse than usual’, he said.

The former Brazilian leader will have his first chemotherapy session on Monday, Crispiniano said. It was not clear how many sessions he would undergo.

Since leaving office, Lula has often traveled abroad, and has been busy with his activities as head of the governing Worker’s Party. He celebrated his 66th birthday only a few days ago.

‘I am proud to have dedicated more than half of my 66 years to the struggle for the victory of democracy in this country,’ Lula stated in a video message posted on his institute’s website in response to birthday well-wishers.

The Sirio-Libanes Hospital, which specialises in cancer treatment, treated Lula’s former vice-president, Jose Alencar, who died in March following cancer in his abdominal area.

Rousseff was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in 2009, before she was elected to Brazil’s top office, and was treated in September of that year at the hospital. Doctors state she is currently cancer-free.

Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, 60, was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in August 2010 and also treated at Sirio-Libanes Hospital as well as in Asuncion. In December, physicians stated he was cancer-free.

Brazil’s foreign minister suggested in July that Hugo Chavez could have his cancer treated in Brazil, but the Venezuelan leader instead opted for medical care in Cuba. Chavez recently stated his physicians told him that he is cancer-free.

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Submited at Sunday, October 30th, 2011 at 11:02 am on Politics by admin
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