The 23-year-old young woman, who had been interviewed in the days following the attack by televisions, evoking the suspect Fernando André Sabag Montiel, was arrested in a station in the Palermo district, and placed in police custody, according to judicial sources quoted by several Argentine media, including the official Telam agency.
The young woman, Brenda Uliarte, was arrested on the warrant of the magistrate co-in charge of the investigation, María Eugenia Capuchetti.
In the days following the attack, she was notably interviewed by the Telefe channel. She had expressed her surprise and said that she would never have thought her friend capable of such an act, and that while he complained “like everyone else” about the economy, he had never mentioned vice. – President Kirchner “aggressively”.
She also said she had not seen him for 48 hours before the incident.
Analyzes of video surveillance images would in fact have shown that she had been in his company on the day of the attack, September 1, according to sources close to the investigation quoted by the media.
On Thursday evening, as Ms Kirchner mingled with supporters outside her home, a man approached her and pointed a pistol at her head, point-blank.
For some unknown reason, no shot was fired even though the weapon, loaded, was activated, President Alberto Fernandez assured shortly after.
The assailant, arrested on the spot, was identified as Fernando André Sabag Montiel, 35, of Brazilian nationality, but living in Argentina since childhood.
The man, whose motives are unknown at this stage, has not made a statement since his arrest.
– Others “like this boy” –
On photos of his Instagram account, he appeared wearing many tattoos, some of which (a black sun, a cross resembling the Iron Cross) associated with Nazi symbolism.
On Sunday, one of Cristina Kirchner’s lawyers felt that he “did not act alone because there were preparatory events for the assassination attempt”.
“There were other people who were aware of this situation, without a doubt,” said lawyer Gregorio Dalbon on C5N television, without providing any evidence to support this thesis.
“In my opinion, there will be more (accused) because I understand that he did not act alone,” he insisted. However, he had speculated that other people involved “are not public figures, they are like this boy”, seeming to discredit the thesis of a major conspiracy.
Gregorio Dalbon also indicated that he would ask that “be heard to explain his statements” a certain “Mario”.
Shortly after the attack, this Mario had declared on television to have been a friend of the suspect since adolescence, had described him as a “marginal”, a little lost since the death of his mother, and had said he was “convinced that his intention was to kill” Mrs. Kirchner. He also said he had not seen the suspect for ten months, when he was looking for a weapon.
The lawyer also confirmed that a complaint would be formally filed on Monday in the name of Ms. Kirchner, so that, as a civil party, she would have access to the file, and could follow the results, suggest clues, experts, or “do appeal of resolutions which would be prejudicial to it”.
The attack on Mrs. Kirchner, 69, a figurehead of the Peronist left, and still influential in the country’s politics seven years after her departure from the presidency, gave rise to demonstrations bringing together tens of thousands of people in a country in shock, and to a wave of international condemnations
