As Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina’s powerful vice president, got out of her car outside her apartment building and began shaking hands with a crowd of supporters Thursday evening, a man stepped forward with a gun and put it inches away from his face. and pulled the trigger with a clear click.
The gun appears to have jammed.
The vice president’s security team seized the gunman and took him away, and the 69-year-old former Argentine president appeared unharmed. But the apparent assassination attempt on the deeply divisive figure late Thursday shook Argentina, a country with a history of political violence, and further inflamed its tumultuous political scene.
The suspect was identified as Fernando Andre Sabag Montiel, a 35-year-old street vendor and Brazilian citizen who has lived in Argentina since 1998 and had no criminal record, authorities said. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
Authorities did not shed light on a possible motive and were investigating whether he acted alone or was part of a larger plot.
Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner greets supporters outside her home in Buenos Aires on Thursday evening. (Tomas Cuesta/Getty Images)
“There is no confirmed hypothesis,” said a Security Ministry official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. “Everything is being investigated.”
The country’s political leaders quickly condemned the incident, with President Alberto Fernández making a late-night national broadcast to explain to Argentines how close the vice president came to being killed.
The president said the man’s semi-automatic weapon was loaded with five bullets but “did not fire even though the trigger was pulled.”
Fernandez declared Friday a national holiday following what he called “the most serious incident since we regained democracy” in 1983 after a military dictatorship.
Supporters take to the streets
Tens of thousands of people filled the streets surrounding the Government House in downtown Buenos Aires in the afternoon to show their support for the vice president and denounce the incident.
Many of the demonstrators carried signs calling for peace and unity or expressing their love for Fernández de Kirchner. Chants against the political opposition could also be heard.
No politician currently arouses more passion in Argentina than the vice president, who has both fervent supporters and fervent detractors.
Supporters of the vice president gather in Buenos Aires on Friday. (Rodrigo Abd/The Associated Press)
The center-left leader is on trial on charges of corruption in public works while she was president from 2007 to 2015. Some of her staunchest supporters had gathered daily outside her apartment since August 22, when a prosecutor asked for a 12-year prison sentence for her and the prohibition to hold public office again. He has vehemently denied all charges and presented himself as a victim of political persecution.
“If you touch Cristina, what a mess we’ll make!” supporters had chanted.
Some of his allies in recent days have charged that his detractors were trying to provoke violence, and Security Minister Aníbal Fernández has said the opposition is “looking for someone to die in the street.”
Police officers arrested a man on Thursday who allegedly tried to attack Fernández de Kirchner. (Tomas Cuesta/Getty Images)
After Thursday’s incident, some of the vice president’s supporters pointed the finger at the opposition for what they said was hate speech that could push people to violence.
Before the apparent attempt on her life, Fernández de Kirchner had made a habit of leaving her apartment around noon each day, greeting supporters and signing autographs before getting into her vehicle to go to the Senate. He had a similar routine every evening.
Over the weekend, his supporters had clashed with police during an effort by law enforcement to clear the area, and the heavy police presence around the apartment was reduced, although the his followers kept coming.
Police examine the scene where a person pointed a gun at Argentina’s vice president on Thursday. (Natacha Pisarenko/The Associated Press)
In Thursday’s incident, which was caught on video, those surrounding the vice president appeared shocked and confused.
It was unclear whether the vice president understood what had just happened. The video appeared to show her covering her face and bending down. But, seen from another angle, it looked like he had dropped something and bent down to pick it up.
Even as his security detail went into action, Fernández de Kirchner continued to greet supporters in the Recoleta neighborhood of the Argentine capital.
Condemned incident
Government officials and former leaders denounced the episode as a threat to democracy and the rule of law.
“When hatred and violence impose themselves on the debate of ideas, societies are destroyed and generate situations like the one seen today: an assassination attempt,” said Economy Minister Sergio Massa.
Patricia Bullrich, president of the opposition Republican Proposition party, accused President Fernández of using the episode to obtain political benefits.
“Instead of seriously investigating a serious incident, it accuses the opposition and the press of declaring a national holiday to mobilize activists,” he said.
Central figure in Argentine politics
Fernandez de Kirchner has been at the center of Argentine political life for nearly two decades, revered by some for her left-wing social welfare policies and reviled by others as corrupt and power-hungry. She was the country’s charismatic first lady during the administration of President Néstor Kirchner from 2003 to 2007, then succeeded her husband.
As opposition to her government began to rise, Fernández de Kirchner increasingly came under attack from powerful special interests for her advocacy of the poor and workers.
In one of the most dramatic incidents of his two-term presidency, a prosecutor who had accused him of striking a deal with Iran to cover up his alleged involvement in a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires died shortly before being fixed. present evidence against her in 2015.
Fernández de Kirchner is seen in Mar del Plata, Argentina, with her husband, then Argentine President Néstor Kirchner, left, in November 2005. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
Allies of the former president insist that the prosecutor committed suicide. But the opposition has long claimed he was killed or driven to suicide.
Brazil’s authoritarian president Jair Bolsonaro, who has frequently criticized Argentina’s leftist government, weighed in on the apparent assassination attempt on Friday.
“I’m sorry, and there are people who are already trying to blame me for this problem,” Bolsonaro said. “It’s a good thing the attacker didn’t know how to use a gun, otherwise he would have been successful.”