Brazil's vice president leads nation from hospital during Silva trip abroad

Brazil's vice president filled in for traveling President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday — from his hospital bed.

Jose Alencar was admitted to a Sao Paulo hospital with an infection on Saturday and became the nation's serving president two days later, when Silva left for two days to attend Guatemala's presidential inauguration and visit with Cuban leaders in Havana.

Alencar, 76, is in stable condition. He underwent chemotherapy this month for an abdominal tumor, and has had at least five surgeries to remove tumors in recent years, as well as an angioplasty.

"He is working normally from here," Silva's chief of staff Antonio Adriano da Silva, said from the hospital.