Argentine security minister offers resignation after attack on Cristina Kirchner

Argentine Security Minister Aníbal Fernández said Monday that he had offered his resignation to the president.

The background is controversy over his handling of the custody of Vice President Cristina Fernández during last Thursday’s shooting attempt.

“When this happened, the first thing I told the president (Alberto Fernández) was that I am ready to resign if he decides to do so,” Security Minister Aníbal Fernández told the media at the entrance of his Ministry.

The vice president was attacked last Thursday when a man pointed a gun at her as Cristina Fernández returned home to greet her supporters, who had been holding a vigil in front of her house since Aug. 22.

Due to the possibility of the attack and the fact that the former president (2007-2015) spent about six minutes longer greeting her supporters at the gates of her home in the Recoleta neighborhood after the gun was pointed at her, questions have been raised about the actions of security personnel who did not immediately protect and isolate her.

Aníbal Fernández denied Monday that the security guards had acted negligently, stating that “protocols had been followed” and that there had been no delayed response by the guards.

He defended the fact that the attacker was not detained by the federal police but by another force, saying, “On the video, you can see that after a long time there is a gun in the middle. the same thing happens at the scene”.

Before the attack last Monday, Aníbal Fernández had announced the decision to extend the custody of Cristina Fernández and her apartment, regardless of the personal custody of the Federal Police, subordinate to this Ministry, which has always supported her.

Fernando Sabag Montiel, a 35-year-old Brazilian national, was arrested last Thursday for the attempted murder of the vice president but refused to testify.

The weapon seized from the suspect is a 32-caliber automatic Bersa with a partial numbering of 250 on its base and capable of firing.

Aníbal Fernández said he spoke with the vice president last Thursday and Saturday while sitting next to President Alberto Fernández at the cabinet meeting last Friday.

The attack on Cristina Fernández took place in a context of high political tensions between the government and the opposition, which had intensified since Aug. 22, when a prosecutor demanded a 12-year prison sentence during the oral hearing against the vice president for alleged irregularities in the awarding of public contracts during her time in government.

ANOTHER ARREST

Meanwhile, the girlfriend of the man accused of the attempted murder of Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández has been arrested and will be questioned in court, police confirmed Monday.

The girlfriend of the man accused of the attempted assassination of the vice president, Brenda Uliarte, 23, was arrested Sunday night, and her cell phone was confiscated.

On Monday, the sources said that Federal Judge María Eugenia Capuchetti, who is in charge of the case, is expected to decide when to begin questioning the woman.

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