The 23-year-old Brenda Uliartegirlfriend of Fernando Sabag Montiel, the 35-year-old man accused of trying to assassinate Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández Kirchner, has been arrested on Sunday night by the Argentine Federal Police in Palermo train station in Buenos Aires. The agents investigate if Uliarte, known as Ámbar, helped her partner plan or execute the failed attack. Sabag, born in Brazil with Argentine nationality, was arrested last Thursday night after approaching the crowd a few centimeters from Kirchner with a Bersa 380 caliber 32 pistol, pointing it at his face and pulling the trigger twice, without the weapon shoot. The oral trial against Kirchner in which the Prosecutor’s Office requests 12 years in prison, accused of illicit association and fraud with public funds, has resumed this Monday with the beginning of her defense arguments.
Although Uliarte had assured that she had not seen her boyfriend the day of the attack or the day before, the investigators point out that the images from the security cameras of the Buenos Aires subway show Uliarte and Sabag together last Thursday hours before the crime. Sabag, tattooed with Nazi symbols and a fan of hate groups on social networks, approached Kirchner while she was surrounded by her supporters for the eleventh consecutive day at the doors of her house in Recoleta, a wealthy neighborhood in the center of Buenos Aires, for the request of the Prosecutor’s Office for 12 years in prison and disqualification for a network of corruption in the concession of public works during his term (2007-2015) in Santa Cruz, the cradle of Kirchnerism.
Hours before her arrest, Uliarte posted a live video on Instagram in which she denied her involvement in the crime and distanced herself from her boyfriend’s use of social media: “It’s his privacy. She was his partner, but she did not manage the networks either ”, counted before 23 people who followed the direct and sent him questions, reports the medium Profile. Investigators are trying to find out if Sabag acted alone or had the help of his girlfriend and other suspects close to Sabag.
His girlfriend claimed “never saw” the two boxes with 100 bullets found in the search of the house they shared in La Paternal, a neighborhood northwest of Buenos Aires. Experts have certified that these bullets are compatible with Sabag’s pistol. One day after the attack, Uliarte was interviewed by Telefe: “I am confused. I have nothing to do. I am very scared because of the threats and what might happen to me tomorrow.” The false news and the unknowns of the case circulate on social networks to feed Kirchner’s self-attack theory to improve his image in the face of his trial in which he faces 12 years for corruption. Investigators have found no evidence to suspect a Kirchner setup. “Most people have not believed the self-attack theory. But public opinion is very volatile, who knows in two days”, explains to LA RAZÓN the professor of the Faculty of Social Sciences of Latin America, Arturo Laguado, from Buenos Aires.
The deletion of the mobile
Sabag is charged with attempted murder, illegally carrying a weapon and possession of ammunition. Investigators try to reconstruct the facts after the information on the defendant’s cell phone was erased in a failed attempt by the police to obtain his data. The judge trusts the chain of custody, but questioned the agents to settle possible responsibilities. The magistrate investigates the actions of the agents in charge of Kirchner’s security, who remained greeting his followers for another six minutes after the attack. Kirchner declared before the judge that he did not realize the attack until he got home and they showed him the images of Sabag pulling the trigger.
Vice President Cristina Kirchner returned to her apartment this Sunday with little police custody around 8 in the afternoon, reported the Todo Noticias (TN) portal. Kirchner has changed his car for an armored one. His lawyer, Gregorio Dalbón, confirmed that the former president’s request to join the lawsuit investigating the attempted assassination “is ready”. Dalbón assured that, if irregularities are proven in the manipulation of Sabag’s cell phone, he will accuse of “negligence and cover-up”.
The attack has strained the political and social environment in Argentina, already tense since the request of the Prosecutor’s Office of 12 years to Kirchner two weeks ago. The Government declared Friday a holiday and called for a march “in defense of life and democracy” that brought together 70,000 people in the center of Buenos Aires. Despite the joint condemnation of the political class, the Chamber of Deputies experienced a tense session on Saturday. The opposition criticizes the fact that the government points to “hate speech” as being responsible for the attack. The deputy of Macri’s Frente de Todos, Gabriela Ocaña, criticized Alberto Fernández’s executive on Radio Miter: “We cannot fall into the story that those responsible are opponents, the media and the Justice.”
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