UPDATE 1-Argentine military scramble after bomb threat against presidential palace
The threat was made via a phone call in which a person indicated a plan to put a bomb inside a car, the press official said, asking not to be named. The military activated its protocol for such threats, and a team was dispatched to Casa Rosada, the presidential palace and seat of national government. No car containing explosives was found, and the building was not evacuated, the official added.
Reuters could not immediately confirm whether President Mauricio Macri was in the Casa Rosada at the time of the threat, but an official announcement earlier on Monday said he had met with a businessman there earlier in the day. 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, 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. (Reporting by Cassandra Garrison; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Google News