Paraguay ex-president Lugo to undergo surgery for brain hemorrhage

ASUNCION: Former Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo will undergo surgery on Wednesday evening to contain a hemorrhage caused by a stroke he suffered earlier in the day and which forced him to be put into a medically induced coma, a senator from Lugo's party said.

The 71-year-old Lugo, who is a senator and governed from 2008 to 2012, will undergo an intravenous intervention to try to control bleeding in the back of his brain, doctor and legislator Jorge Querey said. He did not rule out the possibility of further surgery.

"The injury has not grown in a significant way that is life threatening at this time, but ... it has had a small expansion," he said.

Lugo has been sedated and connected to a respirator since he was hospitalized after an ischemic stroke.

Querey said Lugo's "neurological picture is not yet controlled."

Lugo is a former Catholic bishop who left the priesthood to become a politician. He is a prominent leader of the leftist Frente Guasu coalition.

During his administration, Lugo was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, which he recovered from after receiving treatment in Brazil.

Lugo was removed from office and replaced by his vice president in a political trial in 2012, after a confrontation between police and peasants in which 17 people were killed.