Lech Walesa, icon of the fight against the Polish communist regime in the 1980s, posted this Sunday a worrying video message about his health announcing his admission to hospital, without planning a discharge date.
“
I'm going to go to the hospital.
What comes next, only time will tell,
”the 77-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former President of Poland said in this video posted on Facebook.
To read also: Lech Walesa: "All of Europe must help Minsk in its fight for freedom"
"
So, as I do not know when we will see each other again or if we will meet again at all, I would like to say that I have done everything to serve the nation well
", he added without giving any details of the order. medical on his state of health.
"
Until next time, if fate allows me to stay on this earth a little longer."
Otherwise, pray for me,
”concluded the former charismatic leader of the Solidarity trade union movement which, in 1989, peacefully ended communism in Poland.
His secretary, Marek Kaczmar, told AFP that Walesa was entering hospital for a scheduled replacement of his pacemaker battery.
“
But there are complications […].
It turns out that part of the wire that is in the heart is probably broken,
”he explained.
"
The operation is scheduled for tomorrow, unless today's tests show that it is necessary to intervene immediately,
" he added.
To read also: Europe, borders, globalization… The confidences of Lech Walesa
Working as a shipyard electrician in the Baltic port city of Gdansk, Lech Walesa stunned the Communist bloc and the whole world by leading a strike movement of 17,000 shipyard workers in 1980. The Communist regime was forced reluctantly recognize Solidarity as the first and only independent union in the Soviet bloc, with millions of members across Poland.
Walesa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 before becoming the first democratically elected Polish president of the post-war period in 1990.
