MADRID, 2 (EUROPE PRESS)
The Argentine authorities have arrested an individual who has tried to fire a weapon centimeters from the head of the Argentine vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, in the vicinity of the former president’s home.
The Argentine government has confirmed that the detained person is a 35-year-old man of Brazilian origin with a history of illegal possession of weapons, previously arrested last March, reported ‘Clarín’.
In a live broadcast of the Televisión Pública network, it can be seen how a crowd of people greet the vice president around her house, at which point a person raises a pistol and points it at Fernández de Kirchner’s head. .
The Minister of Security, Aníbal Fernández, has detailed that the detained person “had a weapon” and has been detained, initially, “by custody personnel”, according to the Télam agency.
“They set him aside and find the weapon. Now this matter has to be analyzed by our people to see the disposition that this person had,” the minister assured.
The gun of the suspect of trying to assassinate the Argentine vice president was loaded with five 380-caliber bullets, although for some still unknown reason it did not fire when it was triggered, according to ‘Ámbito’.
“THE MOST SERIOUS EVENT SINCE THE RETURN TO DEMOCRACY”
The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, has described the assassination attempt as the “most serious event that has happened” since the return of democracy to the country.
“Dear Argentine people, shortly after 9:00 p.m., a man attempted against the life of the vice president of the nation (…) Cristina remains alive because, for some reason, the weapon that had five bullets was not fired despite to have been triggered,” expressed the Argentine president in a televised message minutes before midnight (local time).
“This attack deserves the strongest repudiation of all political sectors, of all the men and women who make up the republic. These events affect our democracy,” he added, assuring that social peace has been disturbed.
Fernández has urged Argentine citizens to recover democratic coexistence broken by hate speech, alluding that “deep disagreements” can be had without engendering violence.
He has also opted to “banish” violence and hatred from the political and media discourse of citizens: “Argentina cannot lose another minute.”
“May the shock, horror and repudiation that this event generates in us become a permanent commitment to eradicate hatred and violence from life in a democracy,” Fernández said, before announcing a national holiday for this Friday so that “in peace and harmony the people can express themselves in defense of life”.
“The Argentine people want to live with democracy and in peace and ours has the firm commitment to work every day so that this is achieved,” he added.
REACTIONS TO THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF KIRCHNER
However, some political personalities have come out to show their support for the former president, such as the case of the Argentine Foreign Minister, Santiago Cafiero, who has assured that they have tried to assassinate Fernández de Kirchner.
“They wanted to kill the vice president. It is the most serious act of political violence since the return of democracy. Cristina force,” he asserted in a message on Twitter.
In this sense, the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, has assured that “when hatred and violence prevail over the debate of ideas, they destroy societies and generate situations like today’s: an assassination attempt”.
Former Argentine President Mauricio Macri has also expressed his “absolute repudiation” of the attack suffered by the country’s vice president, and has called for an “immediate and profound clarification” of the facts.
“My absolute rejection of the attack suffered by Cristina Kirchner, which fortunately has not had consequences for the vice president. This very serious fact requires an immediate and profound clarification by the justice system and the security forces,” he also said on Twitter.
Some leaders from other countries have also sent messages of support to Fernández de Kirchner.
“We send our solidarity to the vice president of Argentina in the face of the attempt on her life. We strongly repudiate this action that seeks to destabilize the peace of the brother Argentine people,” the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, has expressed on the social network.
Gabriel Boric, president of Chile, has argued that the assassination attempt on the vice president of Argentina “deserves the repudiation and condemnation of the entire continent.”
“My solidarity with her, the Government and the Argentine people. The path will always be the debate of ideas and dialogue, never weapons or violence,” the Chilean president stressed.
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales has also condemned what he has described as an “attempted assassination against our sister.”
“All our solidarity with the vice president. The Great Homeland is with you, sister. The criminal right-wing and servile to imperialism will not pass. The free and dignified people of Argentina will defeat it,” he added.
The Brazilian presidential candidate Lula da Silva has sent all his solidarity to Fernández de Kirchner, assuring that “she is a woman who deserves the respect of all the democrats in the world.”
Likewise, he has been relieved that he has come out unscathed from an attack perpetrated by “a fascist criminal who does not know how to respect differences and diversity.”
From Cuba, President Miguel Díaz-Canel has shown his dismay at the assassination attempt on the former Argentine president, to whom he has conveyed all his solidarity.
The assassination attempt has taken place after two weeks of notable political tension in the country following the request of the Prosecutor’s Office to sentence the former president to 12 years in prison for various alleged crimes of corruption.
After the announcement, the Government and militants have shown their support for Fernández de Kirchner, although detractors of the vice president had already approached her home to rebuke her.
