Real consternation hit lunchtime news channels today as footage came through of President Marcelo apparently fainting as he emerged from a visit to the Bom Jesus sanctuary, in Braga just before 1pm.
Pressmen and security guards quickly rushed to his aid, carrying him to a nearby hotel where he was seen by medical personnel.
The president has since been transported to Braga Hospital where he will be further assisted.
All indications are that this was a passing “fall in blood pressure”.
Say reports, the energetic head of state was in the middle of doing what he does best: “complimenting people who had turned up to the event, posing for selfies” when he suddenly suffered “an indisposition”.
Early reports refer to the intense heat in Braga today (around 37ºC) “which could have provoked” the president’s unexpected collapse.
Updates to follow. SIC television news suggests the president “will continue with the day’s itinerary” once he has been checked by doctors at Braga hospital, but this is looking increasingly unlikely.
UPDATE 6PM:
Still feeling “weak” but otherwise recovered, President Marcelo has been talking to journalists. He says the indisposition came from food poisoning which left him dehydrated.
“I knew I was going to faint”, he explained. This was why his last words before fainting were for a glass of water. “But it was too late”, he concedes.
Today’s agenda has thus been shelved, but the man whose mandate has most certainly energised the Portuguese psyche is determined that the show for the rest of the weekend ‘must go on’.
“We continue”, he is quoted as telling reporters, stressing there is no way he is missing his meeting in America on Tuesday with President Donald Trump, and then there’s the diary date to visit the national team representing Portugal in the World Cup in Russia.
Newspapers have been reporting that almost exactly four years ago, the then president Cavaco Silva collapsed during a speech to the Armed Forces in Guarda (click here).
That occasion was altogether more dramatic as Cavaco had been trying to give his speech against a chorus of voices shouting at him to resign.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
