MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Social peace has been disturbed, Argentine president says

Violence and democracy do not mix, Fernández stressed

Argentine President Alberto Fernández announced in a broadcast message that as a consequence of the assassination attempt against Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, he was declaring Friday a national holiday so that people could show their support to her.

“This attack deserves the repudiation of the whole Argentine society, of all the political arc, because it affects our democracy. Such a reality moves all the Argentine people and in particular those of us who are her colleagues who embrace her in solidarity with all our affection,” the President said after midnight.

“Speeches that promote hatred generate violence. An attempt has been made against our vice-president and social peace has been disturbed. I call on everyone, every Argentine, the media, to reject any kind of violence,” the President insisted.

Read also: Attempted assassination: man who tried to shoot Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner arrested 

“Cristina remains alive because, for a reason not yet technically confirmed, the gun, which had five bullets, did not fire despite having been triggered,” he went on.

Fernandez also said he had requested the judge in charge of the case to protect the life of the suspect who has been arrested.

“We have to recover the democratic coexistence that has been broken by the discourse of hatred that has been spread from different political, judicial, and media spaces in Argentine society. We can disagree, we can have profound disagreements, but in a democratic society, speeches that promote hatred cannot have a place because they generate violence and there is no possibility that violence can coexist with democracy,” President Fernández went on.

The national holiday has been declared “so that, in peace and harmony, the Argentine people can express themselves in defense of life, of democracy and in solidarity with our Vice-President.”