Buenos Aires Herald 
Fernando Sabag Montiel dubbed his attempt to murder former vice president Cristina Fernández de Kircher an “act of justice,” speaking at the first hearing of the trial against the so-called Cotton Candy Gang.
On September 1, 2022, Kirchner was surrounded by hundreds of enthusiastic supporters outside her Recoleta home. Sabag Montiel made his way through the crowd, took out a gun, pointed it at Kirchner’s forehead, and pulled the trigger. The gun didn’t go off, and he was detained on the spot.
When prosecutor Gabriela Baigún asked him on Wednesday what the attack consisted of, Sabag Montiel said: “It’s clear, the question answers itself — killing Cristina.”
Close to 300 people will testify in the trial, including Kirchner herself, who is a plaintiff in the case. The trial spearheaded by Judge Sabrina Namer is expected to last between six months and a year. According to Baigún, Sabag Montiel, together with Brenda Uliarte and Nicolás Carrizo, planned and carried out the assassination attempt. Uliarte and Carrizo, who are also in preventative prison, will testify in the next hearing, scheduled for Wednesday.
“I wanted to kill her and [Uliarte] wanted her to die”, said Sabag Montiel. Sabag Montiel, who said he was “friends with benefits” with Uliarte, said he acted alone. “She wanted to be more of a spectator than a participant,” he said.
Montiel, Uriarte, and Carrizo are charged with aggravated attempted homicide. Uliarte claimed her innocence last year in a letter to federal judge María Eugenia Capuchetti who presides over the case.
Kirchner’s defense has consistently contended that the so-called Cotton Candy Gang did not act alone and that political organizations linked to President Javier Milei and Security Minister Patricia Bullrich were never investigated. One such group is the far-right Revolución Federal which has been charged with inciting violence in a separate case for their actions and violent discourse, which included calling for Kirchner’s assassination. Uliarte participated in the “March of the Torches,” a Revolución Federal protest in which they threw flaming torches and fireworks over the fence of the Casa Rosada.
“These organizations were born months before the attack, received political financing, and disappeared the day after September 1, 2022,” said an X post that Kirchner shared on Wednesday.
A PRO deputy, Gerardo Milman, has also been under judicial scrutiny for statements he allegedly made that would implicate him in the assassination attempt.
Sabag Montiel said the gun “belonged to a neighbor of mine who died of COVID” and that he shot once before being intercepted by pro-Kirchner activists. He added that he considers himself Christian and apolitical, and said his tattoos represent “Nazi ideology” but clarified that he does not share it.
During his testimony, Sabag Montiel spouted conspiracy theories, saying that “coronavirus is a business” conducted by then-President Alberto Fernández and Kirchner, and added that he is “obviously” not vaccinated. He also said he tried to kill Kirchner “because she is a thief, because she is a murderer, because she took Argentina to inflation [sic]” and because he felt “personally humiliated” for having to sell cotton candy.
“I think it is an act of justice,” he said. “It has a deeper connotation, more ethical, and more committed to the social good than anything else.”
Asked about what he thinks could have happened had the attempt been successful, he said “A destabilization, a feared civil war, a great anger in society.”
“Sometimes, I think it’s better that it didn’t happen.”
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