The story seems to come out of a detective novel and has all the overtones of a confession.
Fernando Sabag Montiel, the 35-year-old who was arrested after the assassination attempt on Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, explained during an interview with CN5, a local news channel, that he could not kill the Argentine vice president for one simple reason:
" I pulled the trigger and the shot didn't come out."
Sabag made what are his first statements about the assassination attempt while awaiting the start of his trial in a prison in Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital.
[Who is the man who tried to kill Cristina Kirchner]
"Imagine the nerves," the defendant confessed about the assassination attempt, which occurred on September 1, 2022 when the vice president was returning home, in the affluent Recoleta neighborhood of the capital.
"I wanted to kill her because of the situation in the country," Sabag told channel CN5.
Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in a March 2023 photo. AP
"Five Bullets"
In the interview with CN5, which was carried out by telephone, the defendant explained that he had "five bullets" in the pistol he used that day.
He also said that he does not regret having tried it and assured that he acted alone.
The weapon used was a
Bersa .32
caliber semiautomatic pistol , which the man fired twice, according to Argentine press reports.
He also assured that "then they planted bullets in my house. They put drugs saying that I was a drug addict. They are defenestrating, inflating an image (...) I am not everything they say."
He stressed that his girlfriend,
Brenda Uliarte, 23
, who was also arrested in connection with the assassination attempt,
"has nothing to do with it."
"I did it on my own accord [...] They are inventing a story and I acted alone," the defendant told CN5, quoted by El País.
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During the investigation, a text message that Uliarte supposedly sent to a friend came to light, in which the defendant stated: "I ordered Vice Cristina to be killed. She didn't come out because she went inside [...] I sent a guy to kill Cristi", reported El País.
Fernando Sabag Montiel and Brenda Uliarte
They are charged with attempted murder.
assassination attempt
The events occurred after 9:00 pm [local time], when Kirchner was returning to his home in Buenos Aires from the Senate and stopped to greet a large group of people in front of his residence, who had come there to show support for him. a trial against him for corruption.
The young man managed to blend in with those present and pointed the gun at Kirchner's face, a few centimeters away.
The weapon did not detonate.
Sabag was arrested that same night.
Argentine President Alberto Fernández said in a televised message to the nation that the assassination attempt was the "most serious incident that has happened since democracy was restored" in the country.
