Argentina’s vice-president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, survived an assassination attempt late on Thursday after a man with a loaded gun tried and failed to shoot her.
Video footage of the incident showed a man holding a pistol inches away from the vice president’s head as she greeted supporters. Ms Fernandez de Kirchner was unharmed in the incident.
On Thursday, President Alberto Fernandez confirmed in a televised address that a man attempted to kill the vice-president while she was surrounded by hordes of supporters outside her Buenos Aires home.
“A man pointed a firearm at her head and pulled the trigger. 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,” he explained, before adding: “We must eradicate hate and violence from our media and political discourse.”
Mr Fernandez, who is no relation to Fernandez de Kirchner, declared Friday a national holiday in an effort to show support for the vice-president.
A suspect was arrested seconds after the attempted attack and Argentina’s official news agency, Telam, identified the man as 35-year-old Brazilian national Fernando Andre Sabag Montiel.
The Argentine Ministry of Security also reportedly confirmed the weapon was a .380 firearm with cartridges inside.
The attack on the vice-president comes amid rising political tension in the country and the region that has put politicians on edge from Colombia to Brazil.
“This is the most serious event we have gone through since Argentina returned to democracy,” the president said during his address.
Widely seen as a divisive figure in the country, Ms Fernandez de Kirchner had earlier served as president for two terms between 2007 and 2015. She is facing charges of corruption during her time as president, though she denies the claims against her.
Her supporters have been rallying around her home after prosecutor Diego Luciani called for a 12-year sentence as well as a lifelong ban on holding public office last month.
“This is probably the biggest corruption manoeuvre that has ever been known in the country,” Luciani said, while arguing for the sentence, according to Reuters.
Reuters noted that Ms Fernandez de Kirchner, who is eying a run for the senate and possibly the presidency in next year's general elections, will know her sentence “in months” but that she “could appeal it to higher courts, which would take years to reach a final verdict”.
