Argentinian VP attacked in a failed assassination attempt

[buritobr]

Former Argentinian President and current Vice President Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (pictured) was attacked on Thursday night in Buenos Aires, in what was reported to be a failed assassination attempt.

The Vice President was greeting her supporters when a man took out a gun and tried to shoot Kirchner in the head. The guards were able to wrestle the assailant to the ground.

The attacker, who is of Brazilian origin, has since been arrested and the country's Security Minister Anibal Fernandez said that the weapon is currently being analyzed.

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

With the wonders of 21st Century technology we can experience the attempted assassination of CFK from the assassin's perspective

https://twitter.com/therealbuni/status/1565512089137025025

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Saved by a miracle that the gun failed to fire.

[CumbrianLefty]

Would be assassin is reportedly (the usual caution applies at this stage) a Brazilian far rightist.

[Woody]

Reminds me of that one similar attempt in Bulgaria a few years ago.

[buritobr]

Although the terrorist was born in Brazil and Bolsonaro criticized the Argentinian government in the last debate, no evidence was found that he is a Bolsonaro's fan. He is "only" a neonazi.

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Aníbal Fernández, the, pretty awful btw, Security Minister has offered the president his resignation

[dead0man]

Things have not gone well since.  Reason

Just as Argentines were recovering from the shocking news of the assassination attempt, the government decided to use it to go on the offensive against its political opponents. At midnight—despite the lack of any indication that the attack was politically motivated—President Alberto Fernández declared a national holiday for "reflection," contended that "hate" and "political violence" must be fought, and called for the masses to mobilize "in defense of democracy." In a message he forced all TV and radio stations in the country to broadcast, he accused the opposition, the media, and even the judiciary of being hateful. The implication was clear: Those who opposed him were at least partially responsible for the attempted assassination.

The day after the incident, Twitter users began reporting that public employees were being forced to sign declarations supporting the vice president and opposing "political violence." Supporters of the Fernández administration began harassing online influencers who do not generally comment on politics, attempting to bully them into joining the government narrative. Finally, and even more worryingly, officials began calling for the passage of a "law against hate" that would criminalize, among other things, "offensive" speech on social media.

But who is to define what hate is? And why the sudden focus on political violence allegedly perpetrated by Fernández and Kirchner's political opponents? The military today is not a player in national politics in Argentina, as it has been at times in the past; there are no politicians calling to overthrow the current government through force; and opposition-backed violent actions simply are not a part of daily life here. If anything, it is within kirchnerista circles that violent means have occasionally been praised. Only a few years ago, for example, a notorious Kirchner supporter suggested that Taser guns should be tried on the family of former president and now opposition leader Mauricio Macri before being used by the police. Some former government officials have even publicly demanded that Macri be hanged.

<snip>

The sudden preoccupation with political violence comes at a convenient moment for the current administration. Recall that Kirchner stands accused of corruption; Argentina's economy is a mess; and opinion polls show that both the president and the vice president are deeply unpopular. To blame the opposition, sans evidence, for the assassination attempt against CFK reeks of a desperate attempt to change the subject. But it is also worrisome. Could the government be setting itself up for impunity? Sen. José Mayans, an ally of Fernández and Kirchner, is now demanding that corruption trials be suspended "in exchange for social peace"—an indirect threat to the judiciary.

<snip>

In the past, Argentina has experienced authoritarian governments that made occasional turns toward totalitarianism. Juan Perón, for example, incarcerated political opponents and expropriated their assets even as he made himself out to be the "liberator" of the nation in school textbooks. Kirchneristas, who seek to vindicate Perón's legacy, are without any doubt headed in that direction. Whether they succeed or not will depend on many factors, particularly the state of a faltering economy that may cause the current administration to lose next year's presidential election. Nevertheless, dark clouds are gathering in Buenos Aires.

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

For about a day it seemed like Kirchner was going to use the attack to strengthen her support and to push for "hate speech" laws to crack down on critical media, but her overreach combined with the absurd details turned up by the investigators deflated the issue pretty quickly. I'll talk about the political impacts in the Argentine elections thread later but suffice it to say it radicalized the hardcore Kirchnerist core but alienated everyone else, though the mixed messaging from JxC didn't help them much either.

So anyway, Cristina once said "if something happens to me, look north" and the predominant theory initially motivating her supporters was that the CIA was responsible. Instead, the leading theory of the prosecution seems to be that she was targeted by The Cotton Candy Gang, a group of far-right anti-lockdown otaku conurbana cotton candy vendors led by a 23 year old Only Fans eGirl. They scouted CFK's neighbourhood in advance by selling cotton candy at the rallies she held. In the immediate aftermath one of them even went on WhatsApp to say something to the effect of "Watch out Alberto, you're next!"

I mentioned that the police raided the Centro Cultural Kyle Rittenhouse earlier (in the other thread) but it wasn't for the attempt itself but for referring to the would-be shooter as "the Brazilian hero of Argentina". In the subsequent raid police found an 88mm mortar shell (!!!) as well a drone, but no connection to the "Banda de los Copitos".

Investigations of the gun indicated that it had no defects, as police were able to fire it 50 times without incident. It was found loaded with 5 rounds, but crucially no round was chambered, hence the failure to fire. This combined with the wiping of the attacker's phone have given rise to conspiracy theories from both sides, though to be fair even the official story is a conspiracy theory at this point.

On the one hand, some Kirchnerists still hold that they were hired by the CIA or opposition on the basis of links between the attackers and various right wing anti-lockdown groups that themselves have indirect links to actual opposition figures like Pato Bullrich. On the other, many oppositionists (and, by some polls, a majority of Argentines) think that Kirchner orchestrated the attack herself to try to win popularity, pointing to the fact that the apparent mastermind's entire family is ultra-Kirchnerist, including members of state security and her own father having pictures taken with Alberto himself. Some also believe that the shooter might have intentionally not loaded a bullet into the chamber and that it was all a publicity stunt rather than attempted assassination.

Regardless, just the media coverage of the story was enough to turn everything into a farce. In no particular order, this includes

* Interviewing a girl who become modestly viral for kissing doctors during the pandemic, who used the opportunity to ask for a sugar daddy live on TV
* Long shots of cotton candy towers moving through crowds overlaid with dramatic music
* Interviewing an acquaintance of the shooter who said "I think he meant to shoot Cristina but unfortunately he was unprepared"
* Using the attacker's girlfriend's OnlyFans as a source of pictures for official broadcasts
* An interview that went viral for being interrupted by an impromptu performance of "Ya Soshla S Uma" followed by "Our leaders have forgotten that they're flesh and blood!"

The absurdity has made it basically impossible for the government to make much of the situation and additionally made the several hundred "security guards" under CFK's employ look totally inept. Though it has laid the potential foundations of a great Netflix adaptation and might be one of the wackiest assassination attempts of the past century.

[Edu]

lmao, it looks like I picked a good time to completely ignore current events in this country for these past month. I live stress free!

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Stuff has been really quite around Cristina's apartment since a day or two after the attack. Most days there aren't even 10 supporters (often only a couple) in those corners. There's more police than protesters, and there isn't a huge number of them either, 5 or so from the city police and a similar number from the federal police (which has barely present until the attack). You'll all be able to visit her apartment building now as they'll be opening a patisserie on the ground floor, replacing the real estate agency that moved out a few months ago