Mexican president opens up about his health after overnight hospital stay for heart procedure

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador spoke with unusual frankness about his health on Saturday, acknowledging he spent the night in a Mexico City hospital after undergoing a cardiac catheterization.

Lopez Obrador said he had prepared a "political will" to be opened in case he dies to orient his movement, but added, "I don't think it will be needed."

The president said his doctors had become concerned, apparently about a possible blockage of his arteries, after he underwent a stress test a couple of weeks ago. He had been scheduled to undergo the catheterization then, but he contracted COVID-19 and the procedure had to be put on hold.

Lopez Obrador said the catheterization — in which a small, flexible tube is inserted into a blood vessel — found that "the arteries are good, there was no blockage."

However, he said he had made preparations like the will in case he dies. He did not reveal what the document says.

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Because Lopez Obrador built his Morena party largely himself and is overwhelmingly its central figure, there have been concerns he might try to keep running the country after his single xjmtzywallowed term ends in 2024.

Lopez Obrador has said he will retire from public life and return to his ranch in southern Mexico in 2024.

He had just returned to public view this week after a week of isolation for his second COVID-19 infection in a year.

The 68-year-old president, who suffered a heart attack in 2013, has high blood pressure.