Apparent assassination attempt roils Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — As Argentina’s powerful Vice President Cristina Fernandez stepped from her car outside her apartment building and began shaking hands with a throng of a well-wishers, a man came forward with a gun, put it just inches from her face and pulled the trigger with a distinct click.
The weapon apparently jammed. Fernandez’s security detail seized the gunman and took him away, and the 69-year-old former president of Argentina appeared unhurt. But the apparent assassination attempt against the deeply divisive figure Thursday night shook the country and threatened to further roil its tumultuous political scene.
The gunman 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 shed no light on a possible motive and were investigating whether he acted alone or was part of a larger plot.
“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 Fernandez holding a late-night national broadcast to tell Argentines just how close the vice president came to being killed.
The president, who is not related to his vice president, said the man’s semi-automatic handgun was loaded with five bullets but “didn’t fire even though the trigger was pulled.”
Argentina, a country with a history of political violence, seemed to be in a state of shock Friday morning. The streets of Buenos Aires were quiet after the president declared a national holiday in the wake of what he called “the most serious incident since we recovered democracy” in 1983 after a military dictatorship.
Allies of Fernandez, who was president from 2007 to 2015, called for a march in Buenos Aires to express their support and repudiate the incident.
No politician awakens more passion in Argentina than Fernandez, who has both fervent supporters and ardent detractors.
The left-of-center leader is on trial on corruption charges involving public works while she was president. Some of her staunchest supporters had been gathering daily outside her apartment since Aug. 22, when a prosecutor called for a 12year prison sentence for her and a ban on holding public office ever again. She has vehemently denied all charges and cast herself as a victim of political persecution.
Government officials and former leaders decried the episode as a threat against democracy and the rule of law.
Patricia Bullrich, president of the opposition Republican Proposal party, accused President Fernandez of using the episode for political gain.