Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has surgery to reconnect his intestines, 5 months after being stabbed by crazed attacker on ‘mission from God’

Doctors have recommended that Bolsonaro, 63, rest for 48 hours after the surgery, during which time Vice-President Hamilton Mourao will be acting president, according to a statement from the president’s office.

Adelo Bispo de Oliveira was arrested after the September 6 attack and a police investigation concluded he acted out of political motivations, but that no one else was involved.

“Our agents there said the attacker said he was ‘on a mission from God’,” Luis Boudens, president of the National Federation of Federal Police, said at the time.

Bolsonaro supporters have questioned that conclusion, and the president himself highlighted Bispo’s past links to the leftist Socialism and Liberty Party].

The surgical procedure will sideline the right-wing Bolsonaro during a serious mining disaster in the state of Minas Gerais, where a dam burst at an iron ore mine, releasing a torrent of mud that killed at least 58 people and left hundreds missing.

Bolsonaro, who took office on January 1, checked into the hospital in Sao Paulo on Sunday and later posted a video to Twitter dressed in a hospital gown, summarising recent events including his flight over the mining disaster site in the town of Brumadinho.