Argentine leader’s surgery a success
BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, underwent successful sur- gery Tuesday morning in which doctors removed blood that had collected in the tissue outside her brain, a government spokesman said.
“The operation has been satisfactory; it went very well,” presidential spokes- man Alfredo Scoccimarro said at a news conference outside the Buenos Aires hospital where Fernandez was recuperating.
The news was met with cheers and applause from hundreds of supporters, some of whom had camped out overnight and festooned the area with signs expressing their good wishes.
“Strength, Cristina,” read one sign, according to the newspaper Clarin. “There’s no one like you.”
The collection of blood, called a subdural hematoma, was the result of a fall that the 60-year-old Fernandez took in August.
When the condition was discovered Saturday, doctors ordered her to rest. When she reported a tingling in her arm the next day, the decision was made to operate.
Hospital officials said Fernandez was recovering in an intensive care unit. She probably will remain hospitalized for a week and then spend 30 days recuperating at the official presidential residence.
That would sideline her for the Oct. 27 congressional elections in which many predict that her left-wing Victory Front party will lose a significant number of seats.
A loss would weaken Fer- nandez politically during her remaining two years in office and probably close the door on the possibility of changing the constitution to allow her to run for a third consecutive term, which some of her supporters have been pushing.