SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s popular former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was diagnosed with throat cancer yesterday, casting doubt on his political future in Latin America’s largest economy.
Lula, as he is universally known, is a former metalworker and union leader who rose from poverty to become Brazil’s first working-class president. He led the country between 2003 and 2010, a period of robust economic growth in which more than 20 million Brazilians were lifted out of poverty and joined the middle class.
Speculation has swirled that Lula — who remains immensely popular in Brazil — could run for the presidency again in 2014 if President Dilma Rousseff, his political protegee, were to decide not to seek reelection.
Lula, who turned 66 this week, was diagnosed with a malignant tumour in the larynx and will start chemotherapy in the coming days, according to Sao Paulo’s Sirio Libanes Hospital. Rousseff herself was treated for cancer at the same medical centre before taking office in January.
Dr Artur Katz, an oncologist on Lula’s medical team, told Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that the tumor was not very big” and that “the odds of a cure are excellent.”
Chemotherapy was chosen over surgery to preserve the functions of Lula’s larynx, or voice box, he said.
Dr Paulo Hoff, another oncologist on the team treating Lula, told local news Web site ig.com.br that the tumour was localized and had not spread through the neck or to his lymph nodes. He said Lula would also undergo radiation therapy.
“He’s a fighter,” Finance Minister Guido Mantega said after visiting Lula in hospital. “There’s no metastasis. Nothing has spread to other organs and everything was detected.
