Star Metro - Brazil's Bolsonaro leaves Florida hospital

Just after 7:00 pm (0000 GMT), Bolsonaro -- who was treated for intestinal problems -- was seen getting out of a car with another person and scurrying into a house on the outskirts of Orlando where he has been staying since December 30.

On Monday Bolsonaro confirmed on social media that he had been hospitalized and he posted a photo showing himself in a hospital bed.

The former Brazilian leader was stabbed in the abdomen in an attack that nearly claimed his life during his winning campaign in 2018, and has undergone multiple surgeries since.

News of his hospitalization came the day after far-right protesters invaded the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court in the Brazilian capital, trashing the buildings in scenes reminiscent of the January 6, 2021 attacks on the US Capitol by supporters of then-president Donald Trump, a Bolsonaro ally.

In coming to Florida Bolsonaro snubbed 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 also took to Twitter Sunday night to condemn the "pillaging" in Brasilia, but rejected Lula's claim he incited the attacks, defending the right to "peaceful protests."

Bolsonaro has had a series of health problems stemming from the knife attack in 2018, perpetrated by an attacker who was found mentally unfit to stand trial.

P.Graham--SMC