Gunman pointing at Argentine vice president arrested

A man was arrested in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Recoleta after a failed assassination attempt on Argentina’s vice-president Cristina Kirchner on Thursday. The 35-year-old Brazilian man was taken into custody after he pointed a gun at Kirchner while she was greeting supporters outside her home. 

According to the Argentinian newspaper Clarín, the entire incident was captured by television reporters who were covering the supporters gathered outside Kircher’s house in support of the vice-president. 

Kirchner has been at the centre of a lot of controversies lately after corruption charges were filed against the former President. The 69-year-old was accused of fraud while awarding public works contracts in Patagonia and the prosecutors have requested 12 years in jail and a lifetime ban from politics. 

However, the veteran politician dismissed all allegations by saying that there were “politically motivated” and that she is currently facing “a judicial-mediatic firing squad” in the country.   

According to TV footage, the man tried to take a shot but was not able to and Kirchner was unharmed. 

“A person who was identified by those who were close to him who had a gun was detained by [the vice-president’s] security personnel. They set him aside, found the weapon, and now it must be analysed,” Argentina security minister Aníbal Fernández told local cable news channel C5N. 

Members of Kirchner’s Frente de Todos party came out to criticise the incident as the economy minister of the country – Sergio Massa – called it an “attempted assassination”. 

“When hate and violence prevail over debate, societies are destroyed and situations like these arise: attempted assassination,” he tweeted just hours after the incident.