WORLD CONDEMNS ATTACK
Messages of shock and solidarity poured in from around the world Friday after a man tried to shoot Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in an attack captured on video.
Government officials and politicians from across Argentina’s political spectrum condemned the attack, including former president Mauricio Macri, leader of the opposition, as well as the powerful Argentine Industrial Union business group, the Supreme Court and a host of human rights organisations
The Pope, Latin American leaders and the UN Rights office in Geneva were among those to send messages of support as police investigated whether the suspect, a Brazilian man, had acted alone.
UN chief António Guterres on Friday expressed shock over the attack. “The Secretary-general was shocked at this news,” UN spokesman Eri Kaneko told reporters. “He condemns this violence. And he expresses his solidarity with the vice-president, the government and the people of Argentina.”
Even Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, a fierce critic of Fernández
de Kirchner, lamented the attempted shooting. “I’ve already sent her a note. I’m sorry,” the far-right leader told the press. “Thank goodness the assailant did not know how to handle weapons. If he had, he would have succeeded.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday called for a rejection of political violence and “hate.”
“The United States strongly condemns the assassination attempt on Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner,” Blinken wrote on Twitter. “We stand with the Argentine government and people in rejecting violence and hate.”
US Ambassador to Argentina Marc Stanley had echoed those sentiments hours earlier. “Relieved that Vice-president @Cfkargentina is okay. The United States stands with Argentina and all peaceful loving people in rejecting violence, extremism and hate everywhere.”
Latin American allies including Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, Bolivia’s Luis Arce and ex-brazil leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva were among the first to condemn the attack on the vice-president.