Conservative former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro, recently sentenced to 27 years of prison for “crimes against democracy,” has been diagnosed with skin cancer, his medical team revealed on Wednesday.
Bolsonaro’s medical team, led by Dr. Cláudio Birolini, explained in a brief statement shared with local outlets that medical tests performed on the skin lesions recently removed from Bolsonaro’s body found the presence of squamous cell carcinoma, an “intermediate” form of skin cancer, in two of the eight lesions removed on Sunday.
The 70-year-old former president, who suffers from severe health problems, was discharged from the DF Star Hospital in Brasília on Wednesday after being urgently hospitalized on Tuesday.
The medical team said:
Brasília, September 17, 2025 – Former President Jair Messias Bolsonaro was admitted to DF Star Hospital on the afternoon of September 16 due to vomiting, dizziness, low blood pressure, and presyncope. His symptoms and kidney function improved after hydration and intravenous medication. The pathological report on the skin lesions operated on Sunday showed the presence of squamous cell carcinoma in situ in two of the eight lesions removed, requiring clinical follow-up and periodic reassessment. He is being discharged from the hospital but will continue to receive medical follow-up.
Bolsonaro was initially admitted to the DF Star Hospital on Sunday morning and underwent a surgical procedure to remove eight skin lesions around his torso and right arm, as well as other medical tests and procedures. Since August, the former president has been under strict house arrest and constant police surveillance at his residence in Brasília by order of Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who forbade him from speaking to the press, issuing public comments, or utilizing any kind of telephone device or social media platform.
Dr. Birolini, who described Bolsonaro’s health as “fragile,” informed reporters on Sunday that although the surgery proceeded without complications, tests revealed that Bolsonaro suffered from iron deficiency (anemia) and pneumonia, in addition to other conditions such as high blood pressure and gastroesophageal reflux.
Bolsonaro was discharged on Sunday afternoon. On that day, de Moraes demanded the police escort explain why there was a purported five-minute “delay” in Bolsonaro’s return to his home to resume his house arrest. In response to the “delay,” de Moraes reportedly modified the terms of Bolsonaro’s police escort on Wednesday and, from now on, it will be the exclusive responsibility of Brazil’s Federal Police and/or the Penal Police, without the participation of officials from the Institutional Security Bureau (GSI).
The former president was urgently hospitalized at the DF Star Hospital on Tuesday afternoon after he suffered a drop in blood pressure, hiccups, and vomiting, and complained of severe pain. On that same day, a federal court in Brazil fined Bolsonaro roughly $188,750 for allegedly engaging in “recreational racism” through “racist” remarks allegedly spoken to one of his supporters, Maicon Sulivan, who never accused Bolsonaro of racism but instead treated the incident as a joke. Sulivan is widely reported as a staunch supporter of Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro was discharged on Wednesday afternoon. His legal defense team reportedly had to explain to de Moraes the reasons for his latest visit to the hospital. Similar to Sunday, a group of pro-Bolsonaro supporters chanted slogans and yelled messages of support as Bolsonaro left the hospital in a vehicle. Some of the supporters waved the flags of Brazil, the United States, and Israel.
“Eight [skin] lesions were removed. Seven lesions were suspected of being skin cancer, and of these, two tested positive for a type of tumor called squamous cell carcinoma, which is neither the mildest nor the most aggressive. It is intermediate, but it is still a type of skin cancer,” Dr. Birolini explained to local outlets as Bolsonaro left the hospital.
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro shared a copy of the medical report on social media and wrote:
My father has fought tougher battles and won. This one will be no different. You can be sure that this is the result of relentless persecution since Jair Bolsonaro dared to challenge the system head-on and fight for Brazil. But those who have God and the people on their side fear nothing and no one.
Last week, Alexandre de Moraes and three other STF Justices voted to convict and sentence former President Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison on dubious “crimes against democracy” charges for his alleged involvement in a “coup” plot to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election, which a then-incumbent Jair Bolsonaro narrowly lost to current radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
At press time, the STF has not determined in which Brazilian prison Bolsonaro will serve the sentence. A recent survey conducted by Brazilian polling firm Quaest found that 49 percent of respondents considered Bolsonaro’s 27-year prison sentence to be “exaggerated” against 35 percent who deemed it “adequate.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last week that the United States would “respond accordingly” to the “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro. In July, President Donald Trump signed an executive order identifying the Brazilian government as a threat to America’s “national security,” and cited de Moraes’ pervasive persecution and censorship of Bolsonaro and other conservative voices as one of the reasons to impose a 50-percent tariff on Brazil. At the same time, the United States sanctioned de Moraes under the Global Magnitsky Act.
Several Brazilian outlets, citing unnamed allies of de Moraes at the STF, reported this week that de Moraes would respond to prospective new U.S. sanctions against other Brazilian authorities by sending Bolsonaro to the Papuda Prison Complex, a reportedly overcrowded maximum-security prison near Brasília described as a reclusion center for “politicians convicted in cases of national repercussion.”
Some of Bolsonaro’s allies from his Liberal Party (PL) and other political organizations have reportedly expressed concerns over the consequences that Bolsonaro’s possible imprisonment at Papuda could have — and warned that Bolsonaro, who suffers from multiple health conditions, would not endure the prison’s conditions and could end up dying if he were to serve his sentence there.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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