Gustavo Cerati, the rock en español superstar who led Soda Stereo in the '80s and '90s and went on to an acclaimed solo career in the last decade, passed out last Saturday after a show in Caracas and is still being treated in a Venezuelan hospital. The last report today has him in a hospital-induced coma while doctors continue to treat him for a dangerous swelling in his brain, a condition diagnosed as a brain ischemia.

Cerati played an LA show recently and was preparing to wrap up that leg of his tour in Venezuela before returning to his native Argentina.

His official website updated news about his condition through a series of reports:

On Sunday, as rumors began circulation on the internet that Cerati was close to death or had died, his website reported that “after finishing his last show of this leg of the tour in Caracas, Gustavo passed out. Due to the rumors, we have to inform that he is recovering favorably.

A few hours later, however, the website clarified that Cerati was suffering a “transitory brain ischemia,” due to a sharp rise in his blood pressure. The singer was described as in the hospital, stable and likely to remain there until tests were completed.

Today, the website confirmed that yesterday (Tuesday), Cerati's “transitory” ischemia had unexpectedly taken a turn for the worse and that he had undergone an urgent operation to relieve the intracraneal pressure caused by the swelling.

He is currently reported as being in “an induced coma.”

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