The president’s message:
Dear Argentine people, today, shortly after 9:00 p.m., a man attempted against the life of the current Vice President of the Nation and twice constitutional president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
This fact is extremely serious, it is the most serious that has happened since we have recovered our democracy.
Within the framework of a massive presence of people in front of the Vice President’s home, a man pointed a firearm at her head and fired the trigger. Cristina remains alive because, for a reason not yet technically confirmed, the weapon that had five bullets did not fire, despite having been triggered.
Such a reality moves the entire Argentine people and in particular those of us who are her colleagues, who embrace her in solidarity with all our love.
This attack deserves the strongest repudiation of the entire Argentine society, of all political sectors and all the men and women of the Republic, because these events affect our democracy.
We are obliged to recover the democratic coexistence that has been broken by the hate speech that has spread from different political, judicial and media spaces of Argentine society. We can disagree, we can have deep disagreements, but in a democratic society hate speech cannot take place because it breeds violence and there is no possibility of violence coexisting with democracy.
We are facing a fact that has an extreme institutional and human seriousness. Our vice president has been attacked and social peace has been disturbed.
Argentina cannot lose another minute. There is no time. It is necessary to banish violence and hatred from political and media discourse and from our life in society.
I call on each and every one of the Argentine men and women, the entire political and social leadership, the media and society in general to reject any form of violence. We need to isolate, not validate and repudiate the disqualifying, stigmatizing and offensive words that only divide and confront us.
I have communicated with the judge who is investigating what happened. I have asked you to quickly clarify the responsibilities and the facts. I have also asked you to ensure the life of the direct defendant who is in custody.
May the shock, horror and repudiation that this fact generates in us become a permanent commitment to eradicate hatred and violence from life in democracy.
For this reason, I have arranged to declare tomorrow (for this Friday) a national holiday so that, in peace and harmony, the Argentine people can express themselves in defense of life, democracy and in solidarity with our vice president.
