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Brasília (AFP)

Brazil's President Michel Temer really wants to clear something up: he's alive.

Temer had to insist on the point Saturday after the state pension organization cut his payments for November and December, citing lack of proof that the 77-year-old leader of Latin America's biggest country hadn't died.

The glitch came after Temer failed to comply with a requirement in Brazil that pensioners appear once a year before the pension authorities to declare themselves still among the living.

"In my case, it's obvious, I mean every day you can see that I remain alive," Temer said in an interview with RedeTV news.

Temer laughed off the bureaucratic glitch, which was first reported this week by O Globo newspaper, saying he was "glad to be treated as a Brazilian."

"I have to turn up to prove that I am alive. I think it's an egalitarian kind of treatment," he said.

Temer, who is Brazil's most unpopular president on record, underwent angioplasty in three coronary arteries last year. Two stents were implanted.

He also had surgery to reduce the size of his prostate after suffering urological blockage.

But Temer said he's now feeling "great, I'm really well."

Coincidentally, his biggest political battle in the coming weeks will be trying to get Congress to approve unpopular cuts to the hugely expensive pension system.

Calling the reforms crucial to Brazil's economic health, Temer told RedeTV he was still about 40 votes short of being able to get a deal. He called on Congress to take a first vote by the end of February.

© 2018 AFP