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On Thursday evening, a man was arrested in Buenos Aires after pointing a gun at the head of Argentine Vice President Cristina Kirchner. The shot didn’t go off. Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered in recent days outside the home of the former head of state, at the heart of a corruption scandal.
A man was arrested on Thursday (September 1st) in Argentina for pointing a gun at Vice President Cristina Kirchner as she was returning home.
According to footage from multiple televisions, the man pointed a handgun at Cristina Kirchner’s head a few feet away, with no shots fired, as she met well-wishers waiting for her at the bottom of at home in the Recoleta neighborhood.
During a televised address, President Alberto Fernandez described the incident as the most serious in the country since the return to democracy. He said “the suspect’s weapon contained five bullets”, but “for some reason that has not yet been technically confirmed, it did not fire despite having been triggered”.
Condenamos el cobarde intento de magnicidio en contra de nuestra hermana @CFKArgentina. Toda nuestra solidarity a la vicepresidenta. The Patria Grande is contigo hermana. La derecha criminal y servil al imperialismo no pasará. El pueblo libre y worthy of #Argentina the derrotara. pic.twitter.com/oKQe5oI2BZ
— Evo Morales Ayma (@evoespueblo) September 2, 2022
“Assassination attempt”
“When hatred and violence prevail over debate, societies are destroyed and situations like this arise: attempted assassination,” Economy Minister Sergio Massa wrote on Twitter.
The attack on the vice-president was condemned by the opposition coalition Together for Change, which called for an investigation into the events, as well as by the government.
Hundreds of activists have gathered since last week outside the home of Cristina Kirchner, 69, accused of fraud and corruption relating to the awarding of public contracts in her stronghold of Santa Cruz (south), during her two presidential terms (2007 -15). In this case, the prosecution requested a 12-year prison sentence and life ineligibility against Cristina Kirchner.
Adored by the Peronist but divisive left and hated by the opposition, Cristina Kirchner is a weighty figure in Argentine politics, one year from a presidential election for which she has not made her intentions known.
With AFP and Reuters
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