Former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been diagnosed with throat cancer.
According to a statement from the Sirio-Libanes hospital in São Paulo, he has a tumour in his larynx and chemotherapy will start within the next few days.
After a visit to the hospital, the minister of finance, Guido Mantega, told reporters that Lula looked well and that his cancer has no metastasis. He explained that Lula had felt some throat ache and hoarseness prior to being diagnosed.
It was during Lula’s 66th birthday celebration this last Thursday that his doctor Roberto Kalil advised him to get examinations done.
In March 2010 it was widely reported that Lula had given up smoking.
The current president, Dilma Rousseff, will be visiting Lula this Monday.
