International rejection of the attack against Cristina Kirchner in Buenos Aires

The failed attack with a firearm against the vice president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, has caused a high political impact. The presidents of Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Cuba, Bolivia and Spain, the Government of Mexico and former presidents Lula da Silva, of Brazil, and Evo Morales, of Bolivia, repudiated what they considered an attack on democracy.

“The assassination attempt on the vice president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández, deserves the repudiation and condemnation of the entire continent. My solidarity with her, the Government and the Argentine people. The path will always be the debate of ideas and dialogue, never weapons or violence”, Boric wrote on his official Twitter account. “My solidarity with our comrade Cristina Kirchner, victim of a criminal fascist who does not know how to respect differences and diversity,” Lula wrote. According to the police from Buenos Aires, the attacker’s name is Fernando Andre Sabag Montiel and he is of Brazilian nationality.

“Cristina is a woman who deserves the respect of any democrat in the world. She, thank God, is unharmed, ”wrote Lula, of recognized friendship with the Argentine vice president. There has been no official reaction from the Government of Jair Bolsonaro.

Evo Morales, meanwhile, considered the attack a “cowardly assassination attempt” whom he considered “a sister.” All our solidarity to the vice president. The Great Homeland is with you sister. The criminal and servile right to imperialism will not pass. The free and worthy people of Argentina will defeat it.

The first president to react was the Bolivian Luis Arce. “From the Plurinational State of #Bolivia We send all our support to her, her family, the Argentine government and people,” he wrote. Then Gabriel Boric did it and later the Peruvian Pedro Castillo. “The Peruvian government condemns the attack that took place today against her life. We repudiate all acts of violence,” he said. Ecuadorian Guillermo Lasso said that his government rejects “hate and violence.” From Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro said that the attack against Cristina Kirchner “seeks to destabilize the Peace of the brother Argentine people.” “The Great Homeland is with you, partner!” he added. The Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, also assured that his government is “dismayed by the assassination attempt” and conveyed all his “solidarity to the vice president, the government and the Argentine people,” Díaz-Canel added in a tweet.

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, said early this Friday that the attack against Kirchner “is the result of sectarianism that turns into violence. It has become a Latin American practice to think that politics is the physical or legal elimination of the adversary, such a practice is pure fascism. Politics must be liberal.

In Spain, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has condemned the attack and expressed, through Twitter, his “affection and solidarity” to the Vice President and the support of his Executive to Fernández and to all the Argentine people:

The Mexican Government reacted through its Foreign Secretary, Marcelo Ebrard: “Mexico’s most complete solidarity with Cristina Fernández and the Government of the Argentine Republic.” Luis Lacalle Pou, president of Uruguay, wrote on Twitter that “violence can never, never be tolerated under any circumstances.”

The United States also condemned the assassination attempt through a tweet from its ambassador to Argentina, Marc Stanley: “We are relieved to know that Vice President Cristina Fernández is fine. The United States joins Argentina and all peaceful people in rejecting violence, extremism and hatred everywhere”.

The attack occurred a few meters from the former president’s building, in the luxurious Buenos Aires neighborhood of Recoleta, where hundreds of protesters have been gathering for days to support her in the midst of a trial against her for alleged corruption. When the former president arrived at her home, surrounded by people, a man pointed a gun at her head. The image was captured live by television channels. The man pulled the trigger and, despite initial information suggesting that it was loaded, no shot was fired.

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