Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday "energetically" rejected the "attack" against Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, after Argentina's Vice-President survived a suspected assassination attempt.
A 35-year-old man was detained by police earlier that evening after he aimed a handgun at the former president at point-blank range as she returned to her apartment in Recoleta, Buenos Aires.
"We send our solidarity to Vice-President Cristina Kirchner in the face of the attempt on her life. We strongly repudiate this action that seeks to destabilise the peace of the brotherly Argentine people. The Great Homeland is with you, comrade!" Maduro said on Twitter, using the hashtags #FuerzaArgentina and #FuerzaCristina.
The Venezuelan leader, who is close to Fernández de Kirchner, accompanied the message with a video showing the 69-year-old vice-president getting out of a car in the middle of a crowd when a gun is pointed at her.
The man was arrested, said Security Minister Aníbal Fernández, who explained that the situation is being "analysed" by the forensic police.
The building that houses Fernández de Kirchner's apartment has been surrounded by hundreds of people since last week, after prosecutors requested she be handed 12 years in prison and a ban from public office in a trial investigating alleged corruption during her 2007-2015 government.
The request for Fernández de Kirchner's imprisonment was also criticised last week by Maduro, who sent her a letter to express his "absolute solidarity" with her.
The Venezuelan leader considers the accusations against the Argentine leader, who during her time in office maintained close relations with the late president Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), to be a "farce."
Bolivia, US, Brazilian reaction
Among a host of international leaders, Bolivia President Luis Arce, also expressed his support for Argentina's vice-president, as did former Bolivian president Evo Morales.
"We emphatically repudiate the attempt on the life of sister @CFKArgentina, vice president of #Argentina. From the Plurinational State of #Bolivia, we send all our support to her, her family, the government and the Argentine people. #TodosConCrsitina," Arce wrote on Twitter in a message with Morales.
"All my solidarity with my colleague @CFKArgentina, victim of a fascist criminal who does not know how to respect differences and diversity. Cristina is a woman who deserves the respect of all democrats in the world. Thank God she was unharmed," posted former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The vice-president also received the backing of US Ambassador in Argentina Marc Stanley, who said on Twitter: "We are relieved to hear that Vice President @CFKArgentina is well. The United States joins Argentina and all peaceful people in rejecting violence, extremism and hatred everywhere,"
– TIMES/AFP
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