On Tuesday, April 27, former Uruguayan president José Mujica was hospitalized and underwent emergency surgery.

Mujica arrived at a medical center with discomfort in his esophagus. What was thought to be a thorn in his esophagus was actually an ulcer.

The former president underwent an endoscopy and was discharged on Wednesday, April 28, but he will remain in relative rest and will follow clinical advice. 

"He had an excellent evolution in last night's procedure. The studies were carried out with a clinical follow-up, imaging studies, tomography, neck and thorax that went very well. He had an excellent evolution, resuming the oral route, without pain and in very good spirits," confirmed Andrés Munyo, one of the doctors who participated in the surgery.

Mujica's personal physician, Raquel Pannone, also confirmed the success of the operation and the former president's stability and good spirits.

"It was decided to discharge him after proving that he tolerated the oral [feeding] well. Therefore, he went home to continue with relative rest. And we will continue to monitor him, as we always do," he said.

The doctors did a biopsy of the area to rule out any other pathology, although they think that the most probable cause was traumatic.

"It can happen that a foreign body impacts on the mucosa and provokes an inflammatory condition, opens up and causes the ulcer," they affirmed.

After the operation, Mujica was happy but attentive to his situation. He was alone in a room in the non-covid area of the hospital, where only his personal doctor was present for a few moments.

On May 20, the former president will be 86 years old, and although he is very active in his daily life, he will not be able to do some of the tasks he normally performs in his farm, such as moving heavy objects, for the time being.

Mujica must wait for the ulcer to heal, which takes 10 to 15 days.