The Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, has been operated this Friday for the second time and remains in “very serious” condition” in the ICU of the FDRoosevelt university hospital in Banská Bystrica, in the center of the country, after being hit on Wednesday by four bullets in an attack against him.

“He is conscious, he is stabilized but he is still in the ICU,” said Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak in a press conference after the surgery this Friday. which lasted two hours. The minister added that the patient remains “very serious”“, although he has claimed to see “progress.”

Now Fico “depends on the strength of his body to face possible complications,” he said. The objective of this second operation was to eliminate the patient’s necrotic tissue so that he could recover better, explained Miriam Lapunikova, director of the clinic, on her behalf.

For his part, the elected president, Peter Pellegrini, traveled this Thursday to the Banska Bystrica hospital, where he was able to visit Fico and reported on their emotional meeting. She has assured that, despite being very serious, “he remembers everything, even until the moment they took him to the hospital to undergo surgery.

Doubts about your transfer

The Roosevelt Hospital in Banská Bystrice “has all the appropriate medical capabilities to care for the patient,” including a team of cardiologists, if necessary, Kalinak said. Fico has already shown heart failure in the past and taking regular medication for this.

“It’s still early to decide about the transfer to Bratislava, since the patient must be stabilized and it must be his will,” said the hospital director. A medical council will decide on Monday on the course to follow, including a possible transfer to the capital.

The Slovak Minister of the Interior, Matus Sutaj Estok, refused to resign after the attack due to alleged failures in the security system, claiming that there were none, and defended the agents amid a wave of criticism of their actions. “I reject that the blame is placed on me or on the security forces. I am responsible for them and I guarantee that they did their job,” said Sutaj Estok.

“I was there, all the security forces did what they had to do, including the body for the protection of state agents and the police force,” he added. the left-wing nationalist politician. Some experts, such as former police chief Stefan Hamran, have seen a “delayed reaction” from the bodyguards.

For others, the reaction of seconds was adequate, and what was missing were plainclothes agents to observe the attendees, who were barely a dozen, mostly retired, including the 71-year-old attacker.

The Government continues with its functions

The vice president and Minister of Defense, Robert Kalinak, who was with Fico this Friday after the operation, has assumed interim leadership of the coalition Executive, made up of left-wing populists, social democrats and ultranationalists.

“All the functions of the ministries remain the same, they are not frozen or paralyzed,” he said. assured Kalinak, one of the prime minister’s main collaborators and co-founder of the Direction (“Smer”) party with Fico. “What is happening will have no influence on the tasks of the Government,” said Kalinak. Kalinak and the leaders of the rest of the parliamentary forces will meet next Tuesday at the Grassal Palace, headquarters of the Head of State in Bratislava, summoned by the outgoing president, Zuzana Caputova, to reduce the climate of political tension in which he is immersed. the country.