Argentina鈥檚 Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner speaks to supporters as they gather outside her house, days after Fernandez was accused in a corruption case, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 27, 2022. REUTERS/Mariana Nedelcu/File Photo
BUENOS AIRES 鈥� Messages revealed in court appeared to show a pre-meditated plan to kill Argentina鈥檚 vice president before a failed assassination attempt earlier this month, local media reported on Thursday.
The attempted attack on Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has rocked the South American country鈥檚 already rough-and-tumble politics, with the former two-term leftist president at the center of a divisive internal battle within the ruling center-left Peronist coalition amid a severe economic slump.
Brenda Uliarte, girlfriend of the alleged attacker Fernando Sabag Montiel, said that 鈥渢o clean up Argentina, blood needs to be spilled,鈥� according to the messages published by newspapers La Nacion and Clarin.
Sabag Montiel pointed a pistol at point-blank range at Fernandez de Kirchner鈥檚 head on the night of September 1 and pulled the trigger, but no bullet fired.
Uliarte, who has been charged with attempted murder along with Sabag Montiel, reportedly told him that they needed to 鈥減ut a bullet鈥� in Fernandez de Kirchner.
The vice president currently faces corruption charges which she denies.
Since Sabag Montiel was arrested, Uliarte and two others have also been detained as part of the criminal investigation.
In late August, the couple reportedly began to look for apartments, hoping to find one near the vice president鈥檚 residence in Buenos Aires鈥� upscale Recoleta neighborhood.
Speaking with a friend, who has also since been arrested, Uliarte appeared to describe her motivation behind the attack.
鈥淚鈥檓 sick of her stealing and getting away with it,鈥� the published messages show. 鈥淚f (the attack) is carried out, I鈥檒l move to another country and even change my identity.鈥�
Authorities believe Sabag Montiel, who has a tattoo of the neo-Nazi-linked 鈥渂lack sun鈥� on his elbow, has ties to extremist right-wing groups, Defense Minister Augustin Rossi told reporters.