Argentina Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had fortune on her side when she escaped a nightmare assassination attempt.
Man arrested for Argentine vice president assassination attempt
Onlookers who were camped outside Kirchner’s home in Buenos Aires on Thursday, caught footage of the moment a gun-wielding man failed to discharge the firearm in the vice president’s face.
The only reason why Kirchner is alive can only be described as a miracle.
As reported by CNN, Argentina’s security ministry confirmed the .380 firearm 35-year-old Brazilian national Fernando Andre Sabag Montiel wielded was loaded with bullets.
“Cristina is still alive because — for some reason we can’t technically confirm at this moment — the weapon, which was armed with five bullets, did not shoot although the trigger was pulled,” Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández revealed in a televised statement.
Here is the haunting moment Kirchner escapes a horrifying assassination attempt with her life:
According to reports, Kirchner’s near-brush with death is a culmination of days of picketing held by anti-corruption activists outside her home.
Kirchner, who served as Argentina’s president between 2007 and 2015, is embroiled in a graft scandal where a court, earlier in August, recommended she serve a 12-year prison term for her participation in corrupt activities during her tenure.
Kirchner and 11 co-assued were charged with corruption, illicit association, and aggravated fraudulent administration in 2016, after it was determined she had allegededly funnelled public road works tenders to a company called Austral Constructions.
In the midst of unrest that broke out following the judge’s prison term recommendation, Buenos Aires governor Axel Kicillof has called for calm in Argentina, describing the attempted assassination on the vice president “one of the worst episodes in our history.”
“Those who insist on persecuting, inciting violence and even calling for the death penalty must stop now. You cannot continue to promote hatred and violence,” Kicillof said.