On September 1, Cristina Kirchner, Vice President of Argentina, was the target of an assassination attempt near her home in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires. The suspect, Brazilian Fernando Sabag Montiel, 35, pointed a gun at the government official as he greeted some people on the street. For unknown reasons, the semi-automatic Bersa Thunder 380, loaded with five rounds, failed to fire. Montiel, who has a criminal record and links to far-right groups, was detained by authorities.

Following the attack, posts began to appear on social media denying what happened, alleging that the attacker used a water pistol and not a real weapon. Most of the claims are backed up by a shoddy video allegedly showing Kirchner “wiping” water from his face and hair.

A publication with the video that supposedly shows the vice president of Argentina wiping her face after being “attacked” with a water pistol

In fact, there was a moment when, after the gun was pointed at her and while she was crouching, the vice president appears to put her hand to her head, as you can see in the video below, shared On twitter.

The video of the gun against @CFKArgentina pic.twitter.com/8j1xpMnPoe

– Lautaro Maislin (@LautaroMaislin) September 2, 2022

However, from this and other recordings, made from other angles, such as the video released by Estadão, it is possible to conclude that no liquid came out of the alleged “water gun” at the time of the shooting.

In the statement he gave the authorities the following day, Kirchner reported, according to Estadão, that he did not realize that a gun had been pointed at him, because at that very moment he bent down to pick up a book that had been dropped by a sympathizer. . The reaction was not motivated by the weapon, but by the fan, who asked him to autograph the volume.

The attacker’s weapon was seized by police “a few meters from the scene.” La Nación published a photo of the 32 caliber revolver, manufactured in Portugal. According to the Argentine newspaper, which quoted a source from the Argentine Judicial Police, the real weapon “was ready to be fired”, it had five bullets, but none in the chamber. The shot could have been blocked by the various defense mechanisms of the semi-automatic, says La Nación.

Fernando Sabag Montiel appeared in court on September 3 but declined to comment.

conclusion

There is no evidence that Cristina Kirchner was attacked with a fake weapon, in this case a water pistol, as the publications allege. The videos captured at the time of the attack on the Argentine vice president do not show any liquid coming out of the revolver which, according to Judicial Police sources heard by La Nación, was a real weapon, with ammunition and “capable of firing.” Be fired”.

Thus, according to the Observer classification system, this content is:

WRONG

In the Facebook classification system this content is:

FAKE: the main content claims are factually inaccurate. This option typically matches “false” or “mostly false” ratings on fact-checking websites.

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