the ambassador of Argentina in Cuba, Luis Ilarregui, affirmed this Friday that the attack against the vice president of his country, Cristina Fernández, was the result of “hate speech” and the “scenario of political confrontation” in his country.
“The non-violence pact was broken and hate speech prevailed,” the diplomat told journalists at the headquarters of the South American country’s legation in Havana.
The ambassador added that it is necessary “to reflect on whether it was an isolated event, or whether it is a product of the confrontational political scenario” in his country.
Ilarregui repudiated “the violence and assassination attempt against Vice President Cristina” and sent his solidarity in the face of the attack against her on Thursday night.
They try to assassinate Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández
Prior to the meeting with the foreign press accredited on the island, the diplomat said that he received Cuban authorities and “friends” such as the president of the Casa de las Américas cultural institution, Abel Prieto, or the director of the Ministry of Culture and wife of the president. Cuban, Lis Cuesta.
The day before, the Argentine Federal Police arrested a 35-year-old man who was a few meters from Fernández when the former president was on the street outside her apartment in the Recoleta neighborhood of the capital and surrounded by Kirchnerist militants.
The incident is part of a climate of strong political tension in Argentina, after a prosecutor on August 22 requested a 12-year prison sentence for Cristina Fernández.
The request was produced in the oral trial that the vice president faces for alleged irregularities in the award of public works during her Government (2007-2015).
The Cuban government reacted the same Thursday night to the attack by publicly showing its “support” and “solidarity” with Fernández with messages from President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez and former President Raúl Castro, among others.
Cuba repudiates attempted assassination of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Fernández has visited Cuba several times as president of the South American country and later as senator. Her late husband, former President Néstor Kirchner, also fostered good relations like Havana during his term between 2003 and 2007.
He was also on a private visit in 2019 to see his daughter Florencia Kirchner, who was undergoing treatment on the island for “severe health problems” caused by “the fierce persecution to which she was subjected,” according to Fernández herself.
