Armed man arrested in Argentina’s presidential office: he wanted to meet with Mauricio Macri

An armed man was arrested in the Casa Rosada, Argentina’s presidential office, who tried to enter on the grounds that he had an audience with President Mauricio Macri. The suspect was carrying a box with a Magnum 44 Taurus revolver and was arrested by the Military House before entering the building, according to information from the Government office in Buenos Aires.

The arrested man is Francisco Ariel Muñiz (36), a person who, claiming to have a hearing with the president, tried to enter with a firearm in his portfolio.

Upon finding out that the hearing with the president did not exist, the man tried to leave the briefcase containing a Magnum 44 Taurus revolver, the Argentine presidency added in a bulletin.

This fact occurs almost two years after a man with psychiatric problems also tried to circumvent the security of the building by crashing into the bars of the Casa Rosada during night.

The head of state has received various threats through social networks and by telephone, as when in August 2017 a 26-year-old man was apprehended and accused of threatening to burst his house.

Last November, four teenagers were imprisoned and later released, for trying to enter with a car in a Macri holliday residence, giving as an excuse that one was the goddaughter of the president.

They had managed to pass the first access control to the fifth, at a time when the president was resting with his family.

However, when the security officers became aware of the deception and tried to stop them, the driver of the car backed off and left the place, which led to a police pursuit.

 Finally, the four were arrested later in a fast food restaurant.

The image of Macri has fallen sharply in the polls in recent months, which has worsened the economic crisis that the country is living since, at the end of April 2018, began a sharp devaluation of the peso, inflation rose and it was triggered in a recession that still continues. Macri is still a candidate for October’s presidential elections. </s> BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine security officials at the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace and seat of national government, arrested a man carrying a gun on Monday who claimed to have a meeting with President Mauricio Macri, his office said in a statement.

Security personnel said Francisco Ariel Muniz, 36, had tried to enter the building with a .44 Magnum Taurus revolver inside his briefcase and told officials he was there for an appointment with center-right leader Macri.

After officials confirmed that no such meeting was scheduled, he tried to leave the briefcase behind. The statement said Muniz was detained by security personnel, but did not give any further details.

Macri, who came into office in 2015, will seek re-election in October in what is likely to be a closely fought battle. He has been falling in opinion polls amid high inflation and a tumbling peso that has hurt voters in the recession-hit nation.

An attack outside Argentina’s Congress last week led to the deaths of a senior lawmaker and an aide, though local officials and media have indicated the motive behind the “mafia-style” shooting was personal rather than political. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A man was detained Monday after he tried to walk into Argentina’s presidential palace with a pistol while seeking a meeting with the president.

Security agents stopped Francisco Ariel Muñiz when he sought to enter the Casa Rosada — or Pink House — with a .44-caliber Taurus revolver inside a briefcase. Officials said he claimed to have a private audience with President Mauricio Macri.

The man fled, but was detained by presidential security agents at a subway station. Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said that he would be given a medical examination and that the gun was not loaded.

The Telam state news agency later said that explosives experts were sent to a building next to the lower house of Congress and the presidential palace following bomb threats.

Local media then reported that other bomb threats forced an evacuation of the capital’s two main train stations.

It was not clear if the incidents were related.



 In this photo released by the Argentine Federal Police, a man is taken into custody outside the government house, La Casa Rosada, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, May 13, 2019. According to officials, a man they identify as Francisco Ariel Muñiz tried to enter the government house with a gun in a briefcase. (Argentine Federal Police via AP) (Associated Press)

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Man with gun tries to enter Argentina presidential office

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A man was detained Monday after he tried to walk into Argentina's presidential palace with a pistol while seeking a meeting with the president.

Security agents stopped Francisco Ariel Muñiz when he sought to enter the Casa Rosada — or Pink House — with a .44-caliber Taurus revolver inside a briefcase. Officials said he claimed to have a private audience with President Mauricio Macri.

The man fled, but was detained by presidential security agents at a subway station. Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said that he would be given a medical examination and that the gun was not loaded.

The Telam state news agency later said that explosives experts were sent to a building next to the lower house of Congress and the presidential palace following bomb threats.

Local media then reported that other bomb threats forced an evacuation of the capital's two main train stations.

It was not clear if the incidents were related. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentine authorities say they’ve detained a man who tried to walk into the presidential palace with a gun while seeking a meeting with the president.

The Telam state news agency says that agents detained Francisco Ariel Muniz when he tried to enter the Casa Rosada — or Pink House — with a .44-calibre Taurus revolver inside a briefcase.

Officials say he claimed to have a private audience with President Mauricio Macri.

He tried to escape, but was detained by presidential security agents at a subway station. Security Minister Patricia Bullrich says he’ll be given a medical examination.

Telam later said explosives experts were sent to a congressional building and the presidential office following bomb threats. It’s not clear if the two incidents are related. </s> BUENOS AIRES – Argentina’s military and federal police scrambled to deal with a bomb threat made against the presidential palace in Buenos Aires while President Mauricio Macri was there on Monday, just hours after a man was arrested trying to enter the building with a gun, an official with the presidential press team said.

The threat against Casa Rosada was made via a phone call in which a person indicated a plan to put a bomb inside a car, the office of Argentina’s Secretary General confirmed to Reuters.

The military activated its protocol for such threats, and a team was dispatched to check and secure the entrances of Casa Rosada, the presidential palace and seat of national government. No car containing explosives was found, and the building was not evacuated.

“There is no possibility of a bomb entering without detecting it,” an official from the office of the secretary general said.

Local media reported that another threat was made against a congressional office and a response team was also on the scene there.

The bomb threat followed the arrest of a man carrying a gun who claimed to have a meeting with Macri, his office said in a separate statement. The city has faced false bomb threats before, including ahead of a meeting of the Group of 20 nations there last year.

Security personnel said Francisco Ariel Muniz, 36, had tried to enter the building with a .44 Magnum Taurus revolver inside his briefcase and told officials he was there for an appointment with center-right leader Macri.

After officials confirmed that no such meeting was scheduled, he tried to leave the briefcase behind. The statement said Muniz was detained by security personnel. Security Minister Patricia Bullrich tweeted that the gun was not loaded.

Macri, who came into office in 2015, will seek re-election in October in what is likely to be a closely fought battle. He has been falling in opinion polls amid high inflation and a tumbling peso that has hurt voters in the recession-hit nation.

An attack outside Argentina’s Congress last week led to the deaths of a senior lawmaker and an aide, though local officials and media have indicated the motive behind the “mafia-style” shooting was personal rather than political. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - Argentine authorities say they've detained a man who tried to walk into the presidential palace with a gun while seeking a meeting with the president.

The Telam state news agency says that agents detained Francisco Ariel Muñiz when he tried to enter the Casa Rosada - or Pink House - with a .44-caliber Taurus revolver inside a briefcase.

Officials say he claimed to have a private audience with President Mauricio Macri.

He tried to escape, but was detained by presidential security agents at a subway station. Security Minister Patricia Bullrich says he'll be given a medical examination.

Telam later said explosives experts were sent to a congressional building and the presidential office following bomb threats. It's not clear if the two incidents are related.

A van from the Argentine Federal Police Explosion Brigade sits parked outside Congress after bomb threats in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, May 13, 2019. Bomb threats were received at the annex building of the Chamber of Deputies and in the Casa Rosada, according to the official news agency Télam. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Police with a work dog stands outside one of Congress' annex buildings after bomb threats in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, May 13, 2019. Bomb threats were received at the annex building of the Chamber of Deputies and in the Casa Rosada, according to the official news agency Télam. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) </s> An Argentine lawmaker who was shot last Thursday outside the Congress building in the capital, Buenos Aires, has died of his wounds. Héctor Olivares, 61, was a member of Congress for the governing Cambiemos coalition.

Police think the shooting was not politically motivated and that the target was a friend of Olivares’, Miguel Marcelo Yadón.

The two men were shot at from a car. Six people have been arrested. Yadón, 58, was hit five times and died on the spot.

Olivares was hit by three bullets and died in hospital on Sunday. “Yadón was the murder target. Our hypothesis is that it was a personal attack,” Public Safety Minister Patricia Bullrich said.

Local media reported that all those detained allegedly belonged to the same criminal gang.

They also said that the motive for the killing may have been an alleged relationship Yadón was having with the daughter of one of the suspects.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri has declared two days of mourning for Olivares, whom he described as a hard-working, popular and upstanding man. (BBC) </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Six people have been detained for a “mafia-style” attack in Argentina that seriously wounded a lawmaker and left a provincial official dead, authorities said Friday. Héctor Olivares and Miguel Marcelo…

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Six people have been detained for a “mafia-style” attack in Argentina that seriously wounded a lawmaker and left a provincial official dead, authorities said Friday.

Héctor Olivares and Miguel Marcelo Yadón were shot a day earlier near the country’s congressional building by gunmen in a parked car in a brazen attack that has shocked Argentines.

Olivares, who is a representative of La Rioja province in Argentina’s lower house of congress, was being treated for gunshot wounds that pierced his abdomen and affected vital organs. Pablo Rossini, subdirector of Ramos Mejía Hospital, said his condition was critical.

“We’re waiting for the right moment to put him through another surgery,” Rossini said. “He’s depending on life support that he’s receiving in intensive care.”

Yadón, a coordinator who worked in the fiduciary of La Rioja’s federal electric transportation system, died shortly after being shot.

Authorities said Friday that they arrested several people, including Juan José Navarro in Uruguay with help from Interpol. He is allegedly one of the two gunmen who launched the attack on Olivares and Yadón from the car.

“We were able to establish that this was part of a mafia clan that had planned the attack since 5 a.m.,” said Security Minister Patricia Bullrich. The attack took place around 7 a.m. local time.

“A case has been resolved,” Bullrich said. “If it hadn’t been resolved, it would mean a profound political crisis because there is a member of the lower house of Congress fighting for his life after suffering an attack from a mafia clan that didn’t hesitate to kill a person for personal issues.”

Bullrich said Friday that investigators are still trying to determine a possible motive behind the crime.

Authorities also detained Juan Jesús Fernández as he was en route to the Argentine town of Concepción de Uruguay, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) northwest of the capital of Buenos Aires. Fernández is the owner of the car used in the attack.

Bullrich said that both Navarro and Fernández will likely be charged with the shooting. Others were arrested for collaborating with the plan or helping cover-up the crime.

Bullrich also said that the attack presumably targeted Yadón for “personal reasons” rather than political ones, and that officials in Argentina and Uruguay are working to expel Navarro from Uruguay so he can face justice in his native country.

“What matters is that the two killers who were in the car have been detained,” Bullrich said.

Fernández’s daughter, Estefanía Fernández, and three others whose identities have not been released, were also taken into custody.

Politicians across the political spectrum have condemned the attack.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri said in a televised address that authorities would go “until the very last instances to understand what happened and to find the culprits.”

Former President Cristina Fernández, who is widely viewed as a potential challenger to Macri in October elections, also took to Twitter to demand answers.

Olivares belongs to the Radical Civic Union party of the ruling government coalition and is part of the transportation committee in the lower house.

Associated Press journalist Paul Byrne contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
A 36-year-old man is arrested just outside Casa Rosada in Argentina, armed with a handgun, after requesting to hold an interview with President Mauricio Macri.