Officials say Brazil’s vice president has suffered a heart attack but is in stable condition.
A Sao Paulo hospital says Jose Alencar is resting in its intensive care unit and that immediate surgery is not needed.
Alencar is technically Brazil’s head of state while President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is attending an economic summit in South Korea.
A spokeswoman with the president’s office in Brasilia said Friday that Alencar is alert and remains the acting president. She spoke on condition of anonymity, saying she could not discuss the matter.
Alencar suffered the heart attack Thursday evening. He is being treated at the Sirio Libanes hospital.
The vice president has been fighting abdominal cancer since 1997.
