Assassin’s gun jams as he tries to kill Argentine vice-president
Man with far-right tattoos pulls trigger on Cristina Fernández de Kirchner but weapon fails to go off
ARGENTINA’S vice-president narrowly survived an assassination attempt after a man with Nazi tattoos fired a pistol at her head from close range, only for the gun to jam.
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who was the country’s Left-wing president from 2007 to 2015, and its first lady for four years prior to that, was greeting supporters outside her Buenos Aires home as she returned from court on Thursday, where she is facing charges of corruption.
The 69-year-old is only alive because “the gun that contained five bullets did not fire despite the trigger having been pulled”, Alberto Fernández, Argentina’s president, said in an address to the nation.
Fernando Montiel, a Brazilian-born far-right sympathiser, is accused of pointing the handgun at Ms Fernández de Kirchner’s face, but his semi-automatic .32-calibre Bersa jammed as he pulled the trigger.
Video broadcast on local television channels showed him reaching towards her as she got out of her car, with the gun nearly touching her face.
Ms Fernández de Kirchner ducked as people screamed at what was unfolding.
Gina De Bai, a witness, said she heard “the sound of the trigger being pulled”.
Mr Montiel, 35, was quickly overpowered by security officers after the attempted shooting and is now in custody.
Mr Fernández, who is of no relation to his vice-president, said: “This is the most serious event that has happened since we restored democracy [in 1983].”
The suspect has a “Black Sun” tattoo on his left elbow, which is a circular SS motif adopted by neo-nazis and farright terrorists, and an Iron Cross inked on his right hand, it was reported after his arrest.
The Black Sun motif has featured in high-profile racist attacks in both the US and New Zealand.
Mr Montiel, who was born in Sao Paulo, had been living in Argentina since 1993.
He is now in custody and police are investigating his links to radical farright groups, some of which he followed on social media.
He was previously arrested in March last year after a 14-inch knife fell out of his Chevrolet Prisma car when he was stopped by police because he was missing one of his number plates.
Mr Montiel, whose full name is Fernando Andre Sabag Montiel, insisted he had the knife for self-defence. The case was shelved and did not result in a criminal conviction.
Ms Fernández de Kirchner is a divisive figure in Argentinian politics and is on trial over allegations of corruption.
Prosecutors allege she defrauded the state while awarding public works contracts in her political stronghold of Patagonia. They are pushing for a 12-year prison sentence and a lifetime ban from politics.
The verdict in the case is expected at the end of the year.