Hopes Fade for Quick Recovery by Brazilian Leader

Hopes for President-elect Tancredo Neves’ early recovery from abdominal surgery faded Wednesday after the third operation in less than two weeks left him in an intensive care unit.

A medical bulletin issued 24 hours after surgery to halt abdominal bleeding said Neves’ condition is “satisfactory,” although he is being treated with antibiotics for an abdominal infection.

The bulletin said Neves’ “psychological condition is excellent,” and this appeared to be borne out by reports of his reaction to a visit by Vice President Jose Sarney. Sarney has been acting president since March 15, when Neves’ inauguration was postponed because he was undergoing emergency surgery for an inflamed intestine.

According to Sarney, who was able to look through a window into Neves’ room Wednesday, Neves raised three fingers and pointed at his abdomen, indicating the number of operations he has had, and then cocked his thumb in a gesture of confidence.

But after the third operation, to halt bleeding from the intestine on which the initial surgery was performed, the outlook for recovery has changed dramatically.

Last Friday, Dr. Enrique Walter Pinotti, who heads the medical team attending Neves, said he was recovering rapidly and would be able to leave the hospital and take up his duties this week.

But Antonio Britto, the presidential press secretary, said Wednesday that the physicians are no longer making any forecasts on when Neves will be out of intensive care, much less out of the hospital.

Neves was brought to the heart institute of the Sao Paulo Clinical Hospital, Brazil’s most prestigious medical center, after spending 10 days at the general hospital in Brasilia, the inland capital. Pinotti, a leading Sao Paulo surgeon and gastroenterologist who has taken over the Neves medical team, insisted on the transfer.

Neves is being fed intravenously; his digestive system has not been functioning fully since the first operation.

With Neves incapacitated, the leadership of the coalition that came to power March 15, after 21 years of military rule, has fallen to Sarney, 54, a former senator from the state of Maranhao.

Sarney is a member of the minority party in the governing coalition. Neves’ Brazilian Democratic Movement has the largest number of deputies and senators and also the most influential state governors. Sarney belongs to the New Liberal Alliance Party, in which the leading figure is Aureliano Chaves, the minister of mines and energy.

Since it is not likely that Neves will soon be able to take up his duties, Sarney must assume responsibility for coordinating the work of a Cabinet that was formed personally by Neves, and he must obtain the support of the Brazilian Democratic Movement for major decisions and appointments.

Sarney will have to count on the backing of Ulises Guimaraes, president of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Brazilian Democratic Movement as well. Owing to Neves’ illness, Guimaraes, 68, is emerging as the key figure in the governing coalition. Political sources say that Sarney and Guimaraes are on good personal terms and confer on a daily basis.

There will be a testing period in which the new government will have to show that it can move on urgent problems, such as Brazil’s negotiations with foreign banks on refinancing about $45 billion in debts coming due between now and 1991. The International Monetary Fund suspended Brazil’s right to draw on a stabilization loan because of the failure of the former government to meet fixed targets in reducing the public deficit and monetary expansion.

If Neves does not recover and is unable to take office, there may be renewed demands for a direct, popular election of the president.