Watch: Argentina VP Survives Point-Blank Assassination Attempt

Argentinian vice president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner survived an astonishingly close encounter with death on Thursday night, as a would-be assassin pointed a loaded pistol at her head and seemingly pulled the trigger with no effect.   

The gun was loaded with five rounds, according to President Alberto Fernández. “Cristina remains alive because, for a reason not yet technically confirmed, the gun, which contained five bullets, did not fire,” he said in a nationwide television broadcast, describing the attack as “the most serious incident since we recovered democracy” in 1983.  

Amidst a throng of supporters outside her home, Vice President Fernández was exiting her vehicle when a pistol emerged from the crowd — the muzzle just inches from her face.  

A video captured the astounding incident — and, it seems, even the click of the would-be assassin’s trigger pull:  

El video del arma contra @CFKArgentina pic.twitter.com/8j1xpMnPoe

— Lautaro Maislin (@LautaroMaislin) September 2, 2022

Fernández de Kirchner blinked and ducked down as first the crowd and then her security detail reacted. The assailant was quickly apprehended as he stood amongst her backers. Though his name has not yet been released, authorities say he is a 35-year old of Brazilian origin.  

Fernández de Kirchner is embroiled in controversy: 

“The attack came as the vice president is facing a trial for alleged acts of corruption during her 2007-2015 presidency — charges that she vehemently denies and that have led her supporters to surround her home in the upscale Recoleta neighborhood of Argentina’s capital,” reports the Associated Press.  

She stands accused of defrauding the government and corruptly awarding public works projects to her political base in Patagonia. Prosecutors are seeking a 12-year sentence and a lifetime ban from politics. As Senate president, however, she enjoys immunity, which could end with her losing a late-2023 election or if the Supreme Court ratifies her sentence.  

“We can disagree, we can have deep disagreements, but hate speech cannot take place because it breeds violence and there is no chance of violence coexisting with democracy,” President Fernández said.

In what might be a seen as an exploitation of the event, Fernández declared Friday a national holiday so that Argentines could “express themselves in defense of life, democracy and in solidarity with our vice president.”