An investigative police officer works in his truck at the scene where a man pointed a gun at Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez during an event in front of her home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 1, 2022 .
Natacha Pisarenko / AP
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Natacha Pisarenko / AP
An investigative police officer works in his truck at the scene where a man pointed a gun at Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez during an event in front of her home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 1, 2022 .
Natacha Pisarenko / AP
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – A man tried to kill Argentina’s politically powerful Vice President Cristina Fernández outside her home, but the shotgun was mistakenly fired, the country’s president said.
The man was quickly overwhelmed by her security officers during the incident Thursday night, officials said.
President Alberto Fernández, who is not related to the vice president, himself a former president, said the pistol did not discharge when the man tried to fire it.
“A man pointed a gun to her head and pulled the trigger,” the president said on a national broadcast after the incident. He said the gun was loaded with five rounds but “did not fire despite pulling the trigger”.
The vice president appeared unhurt, and the man was overwhelmed within seconds as he stood among the crowd of her supporters.
Gina De Bai, a witness close to the vice president in the incident, told the AP news agency she heard “a trigger pull”. She said she didn’t realize it was a handgun until the man was rushed over by security.
President Fernández called it “the most serious incident since we restored our democracy” in 1983 after the military dictatorship and called on political leaders and society at large to refuse. shooting incident.
The attack came as the vice president was facing a trial for alleged corrupt practices during her 2007-2015 presidency – charges she vehemently denied and which Her supporters surrounded her home in the upscale Recoleta neighborhood of the Argentine capital.
Video broadcast on local TV channels shows Fernández getting out of his car surrounded by supporters as a man reaches out with what looks to be a pistol. The vice president bowed his head as those around the gunman were visibly shaken by what was happening.
Unverified video posted on social media shows the pistol almost touching Fernández’s face.
An unnamed security ministry official said the alleged gunman was Fernando André Sabag Montiel, a Brazilian citizen. He has no criminal record, the official said. stated that the weapon was a .32 caliber Bersa.
The president declared Friday a holiday “so that the Argentine people, in peace and harmony, can express themselves in defense of life, democracy and solidarity with our vice president. “
Supporters of the vice president have gathered in the streets around her home since last week, when a prosecutor called for a 12-year sentence for Fernández as well as a life ban in the corruption case.
Immediately after the incident, government officials were quick to criticize what they called an assassination plot.
Economy Minister Sergio Massa said: “When hatred and violence are imposed on debates over ideas, societies will be destroyed and create situations like today: an assassination attempt. “.
Cabinet ministers issued a press release saying they “strongly condemn the attempted murder” of the vice president. “What happened tonight is extremely serious and threatens democracy, institutions and the rule of law.”
Former President Mauricio Macri, a conservative who succeeded the center-left Fernández party in the presidency, also condemned the attack. “This very serious incident requires immediate and profound clarification by the judicial and security forces,” Macri wrote on Twitter.
Patricia Bullrich, chairwoman of the opposition Republican Proposal party, criticized President Fernández’s response to the attack, accusing him of “playing with fire”. She said that “instead of seriously investigating a serious incident, he accused the opposition and the press, decreed a national holiday to mobilize activists.”
Tensions have been rising in the Recoleta area since the weekend, when supporters of the vice president clashed with police on the streets around her apartment amid efforts by law enforcement officers to clear the area. this area. After the clashes, the heavy police presence around the vice president’s apartment was reduced.
When Fernández leaves her apartment every day around noon, she greets supporters and signs autographs before getting in her car to head to the Senate. She repeats the same routine every evening.
After the incident, the vice president’s allies were quick to point the finger at the opposition for what they saw as hate speech inciting violence. In recent days, several key officials said opposition leaders were seeking a death.
“This is a historic event in Argentina that must be before and after,” said Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof.
Regional leaders also condemned the attack.
“We send our solidarity to the vice president in the fight against her life,” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said on Twitter.
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, a candidate in that country’s presidential election next month, also expressed solidarity with Fernández, calling her a “victim of fascist criminals who have no respect for religion.” value difference and diversity.”
