On September 1, 2022, the Argentine vice president suffered an attack in which an individual unsuccessfully triggered a firearm. An action that shocked the southern nation and reflected the growing political tension. 12 months later, the investigations continue to have only three implicated in custody, although Kirchnerism asserts that the assassination attempt was politically motivated by conservative sectors.
A year ago, the image of Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner about to be assassinated went around the world.
The Kirchner leader was surrounded by a crowd of followers at the gates of her home, at a time when she was about to face her first trial for corruption, when an individual stuck out his arm in the crowd and triggered a gun up to two times trying to shoot the former Argentine president (2007-2015).
The bullets did not come out due to a technical error, but Argentine society was shocked by what was about to be one of the most serious assassinations in the country’s history.
File: Shock in Argentina for failed attack against Cristina Fernández
Argentina held its breath and its supporters held numerous massive demonstrations in its support. Behind the motive for the crime, Kirchnerism, a current led by the current vice president, maintains that there is political hatred.
The figure of Cristina Fernández has been omnipresent in politics for 20 years and just like her legion of followers is vast, so is her detractors.
Twelve months after what happened, only three people have been charged: Sabag Montiel, the perpetrator of the events, his girlfriend Brenda Uliarte, and Nicolás Carrizo, who employed both of them as street vendors. Facts that have not helped to dissipate the political tension between left and right around what and who is behind this assassination attempt.
Political tension as a backdrop
The assassination attempt on the vice president generated so much commotion because it was the first major violent act suffered by Argentine democracy since the end of the military dictatorship. Cristina Fernández spoke a lot about this situation, assuring that she was alive “by a miracle of God and the Virgin” and that this fact “broke the social agreement that had been in place since 1983.”
The majority of the political class condemned what happened and was horrified by the close possibility that existed that she would be assassinated.
Words of support came from his party and opponents like Mauricio Macri. However, not all of the opposition was united in supporting him. Some ultra-conservative sectors claimed without evidence that the gun that had been used “was a toy” and conspired on the possibility that it was all “a setup” by the vice president at a crucial moment.
It must be remembered that Fernández de Kirchner had all that crowd in front of his house because at that time he was about to face the first of the pending trials for corruption. Months later, the vice president was found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison for an alleged case of corruption for fraud against the State when awarding road works in the province of Santa Cruz, in the south of the country.
This case aroused great media and political coverage of the situation. Especially at a time when Argentina has been suffering for years from a deep and growing inflationary and economic crisis and when Peronism seemed divided and affected by the situation.
During the weeks leading up to the trial, Fernández de Kirchner maintained a very belligerent position in which she urged her supporters to defend her and charged the judicial system of the Argentine nation, even stating that she was suffering “media and political persecution.” After the attack, this narrative gained even more strength, since various sectors of Kirchnerism have tried to find answers that lead to political power, although without success.
A complex case that has Justice in its sights
This first year since the assassination attempt has served to carry out investigations and to close the investigation period prior to the trial against the three defendants. However, the actions of the Justice have been harshly criticized by progressive sectors due to the lack of clarity that exists regarding what happened that day.
Sabag Montiel, the perpetrator of the events and of Brazilian origin, was initially linked to the extreme right-wing group Revolución Federal, which has been behind different attacks against Peronist politicians and escraches against Cristina Fernández herself. They have been part of the growth of political tension through hate speech in the streets and social networks.
However, Montiel has tried to show that his actions were individual, thus also wanting to exonerate his partner and the former employer as accomplices.
Peronism criticizes that the judges in charge of the investigation have focused exclusively on blaming Sabag for attempted premeditated homicide, as if he were a lone wolf, without going so far as to carry out an in-depth investigation of the Federal Revolution, archiving any type of link, and from other politicians.
In fact, this same Friday, President Alberto Fernández has recalled on the X social network the anniversary of the assassination attempt and condemned that “the judicial case advanced with singular slowness, leaving aside decisive evidence for the investigation and delaying any investigation that would allow find out who the instigators and masterminds of the act were.” A harsh message against judge María Eugenia Capuchetti and prosecutor Carlos Rívolo, who are leading the investigation.
A year ago an attempt was made on the life of the vice president @CFKArgentina.
It was an event of enormous importance that generated a great social commotion and altered democratic coexistence.
– Alberto Fernandez (@alferdez) September 1, 2023
Fernández closed his criticism stating that “when we celebrate 40 years of democracy, Argentina must preserve its institutionality. Part of this better institutionality requires that Justice stop serving certain political and factual powers and limit itself to doing what it should do: impart Justice.
The climate of political tension, intact
This anniversary occurs at a time when Argentina is facing presidential elections. An appointment of special importance taking into account the results of the Primary, Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory (PASO) elections, where the far-right candidate Javier Milei obtained the highest number of votes, followed by the options of Together for Change and the Peronist list of Unión por la Patria, led by Economy Minister Sergio Massa.
The ruling party fears reaping a crushing defeat against the conservative forces after four turbulent years at the head of the Government, where the internal disputes of Peronism and the relentless Argentine economic crisis have worn down this political current. In addition, the fact that the extreme right returns to power for the first time since the end of the dictatorship is something that greatly worries Argentine progressivism.
Milei is a fervent critic of the actions that Peronism has had in the Government in recent decades and is a staunch defender of the right to bear arms, among others. This ultraliberal in economic matters maintained a sepulchral silence after the attack on Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and since his beginnings in politics he has been a fundamental part of the hate speech against the current vice president.
For its part, the other great conservative option, led by former minister Patricia Bullrich, has constantly charged against Kirchnerism and has even gone so far as to launch a campaign song entitled ‘A country without Cristina’. Positions that, together with the great needs that the Argentine population is going through, fan the flame of confrontation at a particularly unstable moment.
With EFE and local media
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