Brazil’s President-Elect Undergoes 5th Operation

SAO PAULO, Brazil — President-elect Tancredo Neves was rushed into surgery for his fifth abdominal operation in three weeks today, and relatives said he is fighting for his life.

“I am not optimistic,” said Neves’ younger brother, Jorge.

Press spokesman Antonio Britto said the new operation for Neves, 75, involved a small incision on the left side of the abdomen to remove infected matter. He gave no details.

“Our president-elect needs a little help from God,” Agriculture Minister Pedro Simon said at Sao Paulo Clinicas Hospital.

Other government members and family friends were reported flying to Sao Paulo from the federal capital of Brasilia and Neves’ home state of Minas Gerais.

Britto said earlier: “In recent hours there have arisen new difficulties in the recovery process of the president-elect. Two new points of infection have appeared in the abdominal wall.”

Brito said the infections are near the point where Neves was operated on three times for an inflammed colon, a blocked intestine and a hemorrhage. He underwent a fourth operation Tuesday to correct a 30-year-old hernia and remove a pus ball from his left groin.

Brito said that doctors also detected an infiltration in the upper part of the lungs but “that a situation of pneumonia has not been confirmed or detected.”

Earlier today, unofficial reports from Sao Paulo Clinicas Hospital said doctors had identified eight different bacterial agents causing Neves’ infection. Doctors said the infection apparently came from the hospital.