Former Polish President Lech Walesa, 80, says he is better but remains hospitalized with COVID-19

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Lech Walesa, Poland’s 80-year-old former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, says he is improving after being hospitalized with COVID-19. A post on Walesa’s Facebook page Thursday shows him lying on a hospital bed with his thumbs raised and a brief caption saying he believes he is going to pull through once again. The former anti-communist dissident has faced multiple health scares in past years. It is Walesa’s second bout of COVID-19. Starting in 1980, Walesa spearheaded Poland’s pro-democracy Solidarity movement that nine years later led to the peaceful ouster of communism from Poland and inspired other countries to shed Moscow’s domination.