- A man arrested for trying to shoot Cristina Fernández with a pistol inches from her head.

- The president of Argentina confirms that the pistol was loaded "with five bullets" and that it jammed.

Fernando Andrés Sabag Montiel, the man identified as the alleged aggressor of Cristina Fernández.

With a criminal record, Nazi tattoos, and television appearances: this is the author of the attempted assassination of Cristina Fernández

The shocking image of a gun a few centimeters from the head of former Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015) has gone around the world in a few minutes. Argentina has lived this Thursday one of the most bitter episodes in its history after a man who was among the crowd that was concentrated in support of Fernández de Kirchner in the vicinity of his home tried to assassinate the former president. The weapon has failed. The assailant has been arrested. We review the keys to this assassination attempt.

What happened?

A man, already detained, has tried to fire the weapon he was carrying this Thursday night in Buenos Aires at the Argentine vice president, Cristina Fernández, in the surroundings of her home, when a vigil was being held in her support.

Since last August 22 a prosecutor requested a 12-year prison sentence for the former vice president for a case of corruption (alleged irregularities in the award of public works), and groups for and against the former president have demonstrated in the streets of Buenos Aires. The tension increased in the following days as a result of the placement of a fence around Fernández's home.

Who is the aggressor?

Agents of the Argentine Federal Police, which is in charge of the custody of the vice president, were alerted by the demonstrators who were in the place that "a man would be found armed among them." "For this reason, he was identified by proceeding to his arrest in Juncal and Uruguay streets (near the vice president's home) and a weapon was found a few meters from the place. The situation is under control," they assured official sources from the Ministry of Security.

According to the Argentine media, the arrested person is a 35-year-old man of Brazilian origin (nationalized Argentine) named Fernando Andrés Sabag Montiel. The Clarín newspaper reports that the aggressor has a criminal record for illegal possession of weapons in March 2021, when he was arrested for carrying a 35-centimeter-long knife that he said he carried for self-defense.

The young man, who calls himself "Salim", shared on his social networks - closed this morning - four weeks ago a video in which he is interviewed for the Chronicle HD television channel in Argentina. In her speech, she defends, together with another young woman who sells cotton candy, that it is better to work than to receive state aid.

Fernando Andrés Sabag Montiel, quien gatilló a la cabeza de Cristina Kirchner, fotos de su instagram. ¿Fue instigado a cometer magnicidio? ¿Un Lee Harvey Oswald argentino? Análisis psiquiátrico urgente a este ¿Lobo solitario? Habrá sido operado por servicios? La custodia TODO MAL pic.twitter.com/puraRnsAks

— Ricardo R Benedetti (@RicBenedetti) September 2, 2022

In other posts on his Instagram account, captured by the newspaper Clarín, it can be seen that he is sporting tattoos he has had, including a swastika and a black sun (Nazi symbols), a "Mhölnir" (the hammer of the god Thor in Norse mythology) and or a "Yggrasil Irminsul", which means sacred tree or Saxon tree trunk.

Why has the weapon failed?

The weapon jammed and that failure saved the life of the former president. As explained by the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, "a man pointed a firearm at her head and fired. Cristina remains alive because, for a reason not yet technically confirmed, the weapon that had five bullets was not fired. despite being triggered".

El video del arma contra @CFKArgentina pic.twitter.com/8j1xpMnPoe

— Lautaro Maislin (@LautaroMaislin) September 2, 2022

According to police sources, the weapon is a Bersa 32 caliber automatic, which, at its base, has a part number of 250, suitable for firing.

Holiday

"This attack deserves the strongest repudiation of all Argentine society, of all political sectors, because these events affect our democracy. We are obliged to recover the democratic coexistence that has been broken by the hate speech that has been spread from different spaces. political, judicial, and media," said Alberto Fernández.

The head of state asserted that "speeches that promote hate" engender violence. "We are facing an event that has extreme institutional and human gravity. Our vice president has been attacked and social peace has been altered," he stressed.

The president said that he decided to declare a national holiday (non-working) this Friday so that "in peace and harmony the Argentine people can express themselves in defense of life, democracy and in solidarity" with the vice president. "May the shock, horror, and repudiation that this fact generates in us become a permanent commitment to eradicate hatred and violence from life in a democracy," he emphasized.

Likewise, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) suspended this Thursday the local tournament matches arranged for this Friday as a result of the attempted attack and expressed its "strongest rejection of what happened," the AFA reported in a brief statement on Twitter.

Reactions

The "attack" has triggered numerous reactions, including that of the Argentine political opposition. "My absolute rejection of the attack suffered by Cristina Kirchner (sic) which fortunately has not had consequences for the vice president," said former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019).

Macri, a member of the Republican Proposal (Pro), one of the forces of the Together for Change opposition front, said on the social network Twitter that "this very serious fact requires immediate and profound clarification by the Justice and the security forces".

Investigation unit personnel are present at the home of the Argentine Vice President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, after an attempt was made on her life.

Outside Argentina, the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, "strongly" repudiated the events; the Government of Cuba was "dismayed" and showed its "solidarity" and "support" for politics and the country; the Honduran Foreign Minister, Eduardo Enrique Reina, expressed his "solidarity" and "firmest condemnation of the attack"; and the US ambassador to Argentina, Marc Stanley, expressed his "rejection" of violence and hatred: "We are relieved to know that Vice President Cristina Fernández is fine. The United States joins Argentina and all peaceful people in rejecting to violence, extremism, and hate everywhere," he said on Twitter.

"The Government of Mexico expresses its rejection and condemns the attack against the Vice President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández," Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard also wrote on Twitter. For his part, the president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, condemned the attack and conveyed all his solidarity with the vice president and the Argentine people.

Social context

The incident is part of a climate of strong political tension in Argentina after on August 22 a prosecutor requested a 12-year prison sentence for Cristina Fernández in the context of the oral trial she faces for alleged irregularities in the award of public works during his Government (2007-2015).

Since then, supporters of the former president have staged a vigil in support of Cristina Fernández at the doors of her apartment, where incidents were also reported last Saturday due to the decision of the capital's government, headed by the opposition Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, to put up a fence in the place.

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