Outpourings of devotion to Fernández have intensified recently after a prosecutor sought to send her to prison for 12 years over corruption allegations involving public works while she was president from 2007 to 2015.įernández and her backers say the case is an act of political revenge, and the front of her apartment building in the downtown Buenos Aires neighborhood of Recoleta has become a sanctuary for hundreds of followers outraged by the accusations against her.Īs she left and returned each day, she clasped the hands of men and women who shouted “Cristina, I love you!” She also signed dozens of copies of her political autobiography, titled “Sinceramente,” or Spanish for “sincerely.”Ī young man who was in the crowd Thursday night said he was right in front of Fernández when the handgun emerged. After her early death in 1952, she became enshrined in Argentina's national mythology. As First Lady, Perón espoused women's rights and was known as a benefactor of the poor.

Supporters compare her to Eva Perón, the wife of Juan Domingo Perón, a military officer elected president in 1946. No politician awakens more passion in Argentina than Fernández, 69, who is revered by some for her left-leaning social welfare policies and reviled by others as corrupt and power-hungry, and she has long derived political strength from her closeness to the crowds that venerate her. While security teams must do as they are told by those they guard, he said, “politicians must understand that not all the hands that are stretched out to touch or greet them are to caress or shake.” Jorge Vidal, a public security expert who used to work for the Buenos Aires city government, said the security response to the incident was “far from being a professional performance.” Her security detail seized the gunman but did not remove her from the area.

“She was easy prey, very easy.”įor a few minutes afterward, Fernandez continued signing autographs and waving. “Cristina was cornered,” said Silvana Venegas, a 43-year-old woman who witnessed the event. Now the apparent assassination attempt is raising questions about whether the most influential woman in Argentine politics for the past two decades should change her relationship with the many loyal followers who constantly seek a handshake or autograph. 38-caliber semiautomatic weapon evidently jammed, and the suspect was arrested. And every day she obliged and approached them.īut on Thursday the routine pressing of the flesh took a sinister turn when a man in the sea of supporters pointed a handgun inches from the vice president's face and pulled the trigger with a distinct click. Buenos Aires, Sep 3 (AP) Every day for the past two weeks, the routine was the same: Argentina's powerful Vice President Cristina Fernandez was met by a crowd of feverish supporters who wanted to touch their leader.

Sinceramente juan mega