A video from August 28, four days before the assassination attempt on Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and a new finding in the images from the day of the attack, confirm that Fernando Sabag Montiel and Brenda Uliarte did not act alone. Not only was the couple there, making prior intelligence as is ostensible, but also One of their friends, Gabriel Carrizo, would also have been present in the vicinity of the vice president’s home.a member of the group, which has even more members, and which is now the focus of the court case.
Investigators scoured footage of everyone looking to piece together previous activity and what they did on the day of the attack. Carrizo is, as he himself introduced himself in a television note, the one who manages the supposed business of sugar flakes with which the girl appears in various situations, both in the mobilizations in favor of CFK and in some anti-government ones, another edge that is studied in detail. All these new elements that appear reinforce the hypothesis that there was prior planning and agreement, as judge María Eugenia Capuchetti and prosecutor Carlos Rívolo have already argued. The latest raids added useful information.
Thus, the investigation has already confirmed that there are several days prior to the assassination attempt in which the sugar flake cart appeared on the corner of CFK’s house, in Juncal and Uruguay, according to the videos under analysis. He is there on August 23 and 27, when there were mobilizations in favor of the vice president. On August 28, he is seen leaning against the wall of a building and looking in the direction of the vice president at Sabag himself. His partner and his friend would be wearing a mask, which was actually a resource they used to hide, also observing, in the background. All this makes it clear that they were studying the place, surely the movements of the guard and the vice president, as well as the protesters.
Carrizo, everything indicates, had a relevant role and His presence was also detected the same day of the attack, camouflaged with a hat and a mask.. The other friends in the crosshairs, whose names he agreed to Page 12they are: Sergio Orozco, Leonardo Volpintesta, Miguel Angel Castro Riglos and Lucas Acevedo.
Those were very hot days, after prosecutor Diego Luciani’s request for 12 years in prison against her in the case about public works in Santa Cruz, with the subsequent police repression of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. The investigated group tried to use that context to comment on an assassination but it went wrong. In the days after, even her reactions and public appearances show some awkwardness.
The radicalized group
Carrizo is the same person who posted on his WhatsApp status shortly after the attack and Sabag’s arrest: “Surely the next one is you, Alberto! Be careful!” “Government is vulnerable, and I hope it’s clear to them… We’re the ones keeping these parasites up there,” he added. As a finishing touch, he said: “They are going to judge a person who would be doing a great favor to the entire Argentine Nation”, alluding to Sabag Montiel.
The five friends under suspicion appeared on Telefé, along with Brenda, the day after the attack, saying that they were threatened and that they were afraid. Carrizo –who introduces himself as “Nico”– and Brenda sang the lead. The girl herself seemed to anticipate and said: “They blame us for something we did not do, they say we are a terrorist group.” After her arrest on Sunday, September 4, after having been identified at the scene of the attack, the others went to testify as witnesses, with the same speech of apparent fear.
They had to agree to leave their cell phones for the investigation. From there valuable information began to be recovered and a denominator that seems to unite them: belonging to groups (even on WhatsApp) of “haters” (haters) with a strong anti-government, anti-Kirchnerist and neo-Nazi discourse. Some frequently changed their physical appearance and their names on social networks. They are all elements that add doubts against them despite the fact that they tried to dissociate themselves by showing in court, for example, as in the case of Carrizo, a message that reflected that Brenda said that she was “proud” of what her partner had done.
Another edge is the possible relationship of the small group with violent demonstrations against the government and their appearance in television interviews where they just appeared to criticize the ruling party. Orozco appeared in a story on Crónica TV in Tigre together with Brenda on July 28, the day Sergio Massa’s appointment as head of the Ministry of Economy became known, with which they were critical. The young man was very informed and mentioned Silvina Batakis. They had a stick with them, which looked like the one used for the famous cotton candy. There is another note on the same channel, already in August, where Sabag Montiel and Brenda are right there and they speak against the social plans and say that they live by selling the cups, which she shows to the camera.
Brenda – who used another name, Ambar, even on the networks – participated in an aggressive torchlight march in which they even threw fire at the door of the Casa Rosada, organized by the Federal Revolution group. She posted it on her own Instagram account, though she later deleted it. There were other similar events investigated where the self-proclaimed republicans put up a guillotine in Plaza de Mayo, stopped to insult at the door of the Patria Institute and went to curse the Palacio de Hacienda.
One of the five of the group, Miguel Angel, gave an interview to TN this Wednesday in which he reported that Brenda had commented in conversations between them that “he wanted to kill Cristina.” According to the young man, also an alleged flake seller, she told the rest the same thing she said on television and which was shown to be false: that she had not been with “Nando” –as she names Sabag– the day he tried to kill the vice president. As expected, Miguel Angel claimed perplexity about the role of his friend.
Two major raids
There were two raids, between Wednesday and Thursday, which added relevant information to the investigators. One was in the studio apartment where Sabag Montiel and Uliarte lived together, at 700 Uriburu Street, in the San Martín district. It had already been raided, but after the appearance of the photos of both showing the 32-caliber Bersa pistol used in the attack and the notice of the owner of the property, a new procedure was carried out where the Airport Security Police took a hard drive and various devices. Among other things, it is being investigated whether Sabag changed his cell phone frequently.
Another raid was made in the house of an ex-boyfriend of Brenda, Lucas Ocampo. He himself called the court because the night of her attempted murder she appeared at her home asking for help after Sabag was detained, she stayed there to sleep and left a white bag. It is the same bag that is seen in the images that are taken of her at the scene of the attack, near her partner. Moreover, when he is caught by militants after trying to shoot CFK in the head, she leaves without saying anything, without even asking for her boyfriend. She leaves as if she were distracted: she is seen dressed in black, with white sneakers and the bag in question in her hand.
One theory is that the weapon could have been in that bag, which will be examined. It will try to detect if it has traces of gunpowder. He also had an umbrella. The reconstruction of the couple’s steps that day, September 1, also revealed that in Quilmes, where they were together at a tattoo artist’s shop, they also passed through a McDonald’s where the cameras captured something strange: they picked up a piece of paper that another couple threw on the floor and took it away. As is already known, they traveled to Constitución, then to the Obelisk and from there they walked to Juncal and Uruguay, where they arrived around 8:00 p.m.
The analysis of a lot of information is still pending, especially the location of cell phones, calls, messages. In the case of Brenda, as this newspaper revealed, she had a “secure folder”, with a separate password, on her cell phone, which could only be opened late this Thursday to check if she had any information there. .
Questions that still have no answer
Is there a leader of the group or someone behind? It is a question that still needs to be answered. In favor of this hypothesis is the fact that it seems to be a precarious group if you think about what happened: the planned assassination attempt on the vice president that was not carried out. Sabag doesn’t seem to be experienced and either the bullet didn’t go into the chamber or he got nervous moving the slide.
Both Sabag and the girl seem somewhat vulnerable and easily influenced, in this case by hatred. On the contrary, it can be thought that a hypothesis would have provided them with greater logistics, structure and another weapon since the one used is very old. But there are very obvious questions that remain open: What did they live on? From selling sugar flakes and some rent? Is it was a screen activity? If someone financed them, would they have acted so precariously?