BRASILIA, Jan 28 – An "exhausted" Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was hospitalized in the northeastern city of Recife after suffering hypertension, the president\’s office said early on Thursday.
Lula, 64, was on his way on Thursday morning to Sao Paulo to undergo further tests after being rushed to the Hospital Portugais de Recife late on Wednesday, a spokesman said.
"The president was already very well this morning, but the doctors recommended rest," the spokesman at the Planalto presidential palace told AFP.
"He had a very intense week and was really exhausted," he said. "It was a hypertension crisis and in light of it a decision was made to cancel the trip to Davos."
Lula fell ill at a Brazilian air force base in Recife where he was supposed to board a flight to Switzerland to attend the Davos World Economic Forum, local press reports said.
Lula\’s doctor, Cleber Ferreira, who was travelling with the president, told the press that "the general state of the president is good," although he would undergo a battery of tests in Sao Paulo.
In Davos, Lula was due to receive a prize as a Global Statesman.
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