Attack on Cristina Kirchner, live: Alberto Fernández’s cabinet hastily assembles and prepares for demonstrations; The judge takes statements from the guards Fernando Andres Sabag Montiel | Recoleta | the world

Massive demonstrations across the region Argentina They are taking place this Friday along the heart of the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires to protest the failed coup against the vice president accused of corruption. Christina Kirchner That shocked the country. Kirchner was attacked Thursday night with an unfired firearm, and an investigation into whether he acted alone is ongoing. President Alberto Fernández called it the most serious incident since the return to democracy in 1983.

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The assassination attempt was dismissed by key leaders of the (centre-right) opposition as one for change amid growing political polarization. On Saturday, Congress will hold a special session.

Meera: What is known about the 35-year-old Brazilian who tried to kill Christina Kirchner with a gun?

Diego Reynoso, a political scientist at the University of San Andrés, opined that “there was already a degree of verbal and symbolic violence that was now translated into behavior and acted upon.”

“This fact is a watershed,” Reynoso told AFP. “Political violence has never been a problem in Argentina in recent years. It breaks the civic and democratic consensus we had, which is unfortunate.

The Pope FranciscoThe former archbishop of Buenos Aires expressed “his solidarity and closeness at this delicate moment” to his comrade and said he prayed that “social harmony and respect for democratic values ​​will always prevail”.

The United States “strongly condemned the assassination attempt” and expressed its support “to the government and people of Argentina in their rejection of violence and hatred,” according to a message sent on Twitter by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

before justice

Judge Maria Eugenia Capuchetti and prosecutor Carlos Rivolo, who are in charge of the investigation, which has been labeled an aggravated attempted murder, examined the scene of the attack. In court, the first statements were taken from witnesses and police officers and members of the vice president’s custody. Later, the magistrate went to Kirchner’s house.

Federal police raided an apartment on the outskirts of Buenos Aires that the attacker had been renting for eight months, according to the owner. A police source told reporters that two boxes containing 50 bullets each were found at the scene.

The inmate, Fernando André Sabag Montiel, 35, is a Brazilian national with an Argentine mother and a Chilean father. He has been living in Argentina since 1993. He was arrested on March 17, 2021 for possession of unconventional weapons, according to police sources quoted by the official Télam news agency. According to pictures posted on his social networks, the man has a Nazi symbol tattooed on his elbow.

Political analyst Carlos Fara believed that the main political parties would now try to “water down”.

The incident comes after two weeks of political tension. “I don’t think anyone is politically responsible for this, but the climate is being created that causes these situations,” he told AFP.

Kirchner, 69, beloved by his supporters in Peronism and hated by opposition sectors, continues to wield enormous influence and power in Argentina, seven years after leaving the presidency and yet to show his intentions before the 2023 election. .

On Twitter, the terms “#NoLesCreoNada”, “#OperetaK” and “#CFKSeVictimiza” were trending this Friday. In a statement to AFP, Cecilia Rossi, 57, who lives on the block where Kirchner lives, considered him “a clown covering up serious things going on in the country.”