Strong emotion in Argentina, where Vice-President Cristina Kirchner was attacked by an armed man who aimed at her at point-blank range Thursday evening September 1. This, in a climate of tension, after a prison sentence was requested against the former president in a trial where she is accused of corruption.
The images are looping on all the channels, says our correspondent in Buenos Aires, Jean-Louis Buchet. We see an armed man mingling with supporters of Cristina Kircher and aiming for her in the head a few centimeters from her face. We now know that he pulled the trigger, but the shot did not fire. The individual, quickly brought under control, is a 35-year-old Brazilian who had already been arrested for carrying an unauthorized weapon.
President Alberto Fernández, considering that it was the most serious threat against institutions since the return of democracy in 1983, declared a national holiday this Friday.
” When hatred and violence prevail over debate, societies are destroyed and situations like this arise: assassination attempt “, wrote on Twitter the Minister of the Economy, Sergio Massa.
Cuando el odio y la violencia se imponen sobre el debate de ideas, destroying a las sociedades y se generan situaciones como la de hoy: un intento de magnicidio.
Toda mi solidarity a @CFKArgentina y su familia. Y mi deseo de que se determinen todas las responsabilidades.— Sergio Massa (@SergioMassa) September 2, 2022
Demonstration this Friday, September 2
The tension around Cristina Kirchner began ten days ago, after the request for a twelve-year prison sentence by the prosecutor in a trial where she is accused of corruption. The trial is ongoing, and we are far from a conviction. But the former president and current vice president immediately denounced a persecution intended to exclude him from political life. The Kirchnerists and other streams of the ruling Peronist coalition supported this victimization.
And this is how the very chic street where she lives became the scene of clashes, first verbal, between residents of the neighborhood and K activists, then physical between the latter and the police, before a Kirchnerist guard settled there permanently. Organizations are calling for a demonstration this Friday in May Square. No doubt there will be a lot of people.
Argentina: between Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner, a trompe-l’oeil reconciliation?