Latin America

Attack on Cristina Kirchner: Case closed?

The bizarre “Cotton Candy Gang” currently in custody could just be the tip of the iceberg in a larger plan to kill the Argentinian vice president

Vive President Cristina Kirchner of Argentina escaped an assassination attempt on Sep. 1. Photo: José Cruz/ABr
Vive President Cristina Kirchner of Argentina escaped an assassination attempt on Sep. 1. Photo: José Cruz/ABr

Plenty has been revealed about who tried to shoot Argentinian Vice President Cristina Kirchner two weeks ago while she greeted her fans near her doorstep, with four arrests already ordered by Judge María Eugenia Capuchetti.

But behind the immediate perpetrators hangs the specter of larger violent organizations, whose links with the suspects and more mainstream right-wing leaders will likely be at the center of the Argentinian agenda for years to come.

First, the facts from the case: Fernando Sabag Montiel, the would-be-shooter, has already been indicted. Not only is there video and DNA evidence proving his role in the crime scene, but prosecutors have even opened a new investigation against him after finding child sexual abuse images on his mobile phone.

Mr. Sabag’s girlfriend, Brenda Uliarte, is currently seen as the crime’s instigator, after multiple chats with a close friend in which she speaks in great detail about her plans to kill Ms. Kirchner.

“Today I will become [Argentinian independence hero José de] San Martín, I will send someone to kill Cristina. I’m tired of everybody talking and doing nothing,” Ms. Uliarte told her friend on August 27. “The son of a bitch went back inside before I could shoot her,” Ms. Uliarte also lamented, minutes after Ms. Kirchner gave a speech in public. The friend has also been arrested.

Footage of both women stalking Ms. Kirchner’s apartment in the build up to the September 1 assassination attempt was leaked to the press, and has been...

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