Former Leader of Brazil Is Said to Have Throat Cancer

Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has throat cancer and will begin chemotherapy soon, his hospital said Saturday in a statement.
Michael Kappeler/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images


The Hospital Sírio-Libanês in São Paulo said that various exams showed that Mr. da Silva, 66, had a tumor in his larynx, the organ in the neck that assists in breathing and speaking. “The patient is doing well,” the hospital said in the statement, also explaining that he would be cared for by six respected specialists.

The disclosure of his condition comes at a time when he is still being admired here as Brazil’s most towering contemporary political leader. In his tenure as president, which ended last year, he led a vigorous expansion of Brazil’s economy and a more muscular foreign policy.

At Hospital Sírio-Libanês, Mr. da Silva will receive treatment at what is perhaps Latin America’s premier cancer facility. His successor, President Dilma Rousseff, had her lymphoma treated at the same hospital, and Paraguay’s president, Fernando Lugo, is also still periodically undergoing treatment there for his non-Hodgkins lymphoma.



Since leaving the presidency, Mr. da Silva, a former labor leader, has retained broad influence in Brazilian politics. He has traveled extensively in Brazil and abroad, delivering speeches for ample fees, and last week appeared alongside Ms. Rousseff at the inauguration of a bridge in the Amazonian city of Manaus.

Paulo Hoff, a member of Mr. da Silva’s medical team, described the former president’s condition as “great.” In an interview with the G1 news Web site, Dr. Hoff said that Mr. da Silva’s tumor was detected after his voice became more hoarse than normal.

The swift disclosure of Mr. da Silva’s condition stands in contrast with the speculation surrounding the health of Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez, who stunned Venezuelans by announcing in June that he had undergone emergency surgery to remove a cancerous tumor after a long period of seclusion in Cuba.

Venezuela’s government has never revealed precisely which type of cancer Mr. Chávez had, and the Venezuelan leader did not act on an offer from Ms. Rousseff to receive treatment from her medical team in São Paulo. After another visit to Cuba this month, Mr. Chávez said his cancer was gone.

Fonte: New York Times