Pope, others solidarise with Argentine VP

Messages of shock and solidarity poured in from world wide Friday after a person tried to shoot Argentine Vice President Cristina Kirchner in an assault captured on video.

Political and labour unions at dwelling known as for mass demonstrations countrywide to denounce Thursday’s assault in opposition to Kircher, who survived as a result of the handgun aimed toward her face from very shut vary didn’t go off.

The Pope, Latin American leaders and the UN Rights workplace in Geneva despatched messages of assist as police investigated whether or not the suspect, a Brazilian man, had acted alone.

The person in custody was recognized as 35-year-old Fernando Andre Sabag Montiel.

Footage of the incident confirmed a person pointing a handgun at Kirchner, 69, who was the nation’s chief from 2007 to 2015 and is now going through corruption prices.

The incident occurred exterior Kirchner’s dwelling in Buenos Aires’ upscale Recoleta neighborhood. The scene of the crime was cordoned off by police Friday, with a handful of Kirchner backers gathered close by.

“I noticed this arm come up over my shoulder behind me with a gun, and with individuals round me, he was subdued,” one supporter, who didn’t give his identify, informed AFP.

One other, who would solely give her first identify, Teresa, mentioned: “We have been ready for our beloved Cristina. And she or he simply got here right down to greet everybody, like each night time, to greet the individuals. And swiftly, there was a commotion, and it was that man who pointed (a gun) at her.

“Proper subsequent to him they grabbed him, they ran him by way of right here and I’ve his face mounted in my reminiscence.”

President Alberto Fernandez introduced to the nation that “Cristina stays alive, as a result of for a motive that has not but been technically confirmed, the gun which contained 5 bullets didn’t hearth regardless of the set off having been pulled.”

He mentioned this was the “most severe occasion that has occurred since we restored democracy” in 1983.

The president declared Friday a public vacation.

– ‘Solidarity’ –

“We’ve simply skilled one of many worst episodes in our historical past with the tried assassination of Cristina Kirchner,” tweeted Axel Kicillof, governor of Buenos Aires province.

Pope Francis, himself a former archbishop of Buenos Aires, despatched Kirchner a telegram expressing “solidarity” whereas praying that “social concord and respect for democratic values will at all times prevail,” based on the Vatican.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed an “unequivocal condemnation of this assassination try” and assist for Kirchner and the Argentine individuals.

“Hatred and violence won’t ever defeat democracy,” he tweeted.

Latin American politicians additionally voiced assist, with messages acquired from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Chile’s President Gabriel Boric and Bolivian President Luis Arce, amongst others.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s former president now locked in a fierce election battle, additionally slammed Kirchner’s attacker as “a fascist felony who doesn’t know respect variations and variety.”

Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani mentioned the UN Human Rights Workplace was “shocked” by the incident.

“We shall be carefully following the scenario,” Shamdasani informed reporters in Geneva.

Throughout the nation, the opposition grouping Collectively for Change condemned the tried assault and known as for a full investigation.

“My absolute repudiation of the assault suffered by Cristina Kirchner, who thankfully was not injured,” tweeted opposition chief Mauricio Macri, who was president after Kirchner.

“This very severe act requires a right away and deep investigation by prosecutors and safety forces.”

The ruling coalition Entrance of All (center-left Peronism) known as for a march to Buenos Aires’s central Plaza de Mayo “to defend democracy.”

– Court docket case –

Kirchner, a lawyer by coaching who succeeded her late husband, Nestor Kirchner, as president, stands accused of fraudulently awarding public works contracts in her political stronghold of Patagonia.

Authorities prosecutors have accused her of defrauding the state out of an estimated $1 billion and are searching for a jail sentence of 12 years and a lifetime ban from politics.

A whole bunch of activists have gathered in current days in entrance of her dwelling to protest the claims.

“Nothing, completely nothing that they’ve mentioned was confirmed,” Kirchner mentioned final week.

The decision in her case is predicted on the finish of the yr.

She is president of the nation’s Senate and enjoys parliamentary immunity, granting her some authorized safety.

Even when convicted she wouldn’t go to jail except her sentence was ratified by the nation’s Supreme Court docket, or if she loses her Senate seat on the subsequent elections on the finish of 2023.

AFP