Buenos Aires, Argentina – Argentina’s former president, Alberto Fernández, has been accused by his ex-partner, Fabiola Yañez, of domestic violence, including incidents that allegedly occurred before and during his 2019 to 2023 presidential term.
Yañez also accused the former president of multiple cases of adultery with women who allegedly visited him at the official presidential residence in Olivos, Buenos Aires.
Fernandez has denied all the charges against him and said he will defend his version in court.
On August 4, the Argentinian newspaper Clarion reported that a court was investigating allegations of domestic violence against the Peronist leader. The investigation apparently began after a cellphone from Fernández’s secretary, María Cantero, was seized by authorities in a separate influence-peddling investigation. The conversations between Cantero and Yañez reportedly included photos of Yañez with bruises on his eye and arm caused by Fernández.
“I would never have wanted such a picture to appear. What woman wants to see herself on all the TV shows and in the world’s media like this?” Yañez said Infobae. During that interview, released on August 10, she described Fernandez’s behavior towards her as “psychological terrorism”.
Yañez currently lives in Madrid with her and Fernández’s son, Francisco. She is said to have requested that she be the plaintiff in the case against the former president. She sued her ex-partner for “serious injuries qualified as doubly related and committed in the context of gender-based violence with abuse of power and authority” since 2016. That same year, Fernández forced her to have an abortion, she said .
“We had argued before, a lot, as usual, and to end the argument he hit me with a terrible punch from his side of the bed. I screamed and said ‘what did you do to me?’ But nothing, he came back and with that punch the argument ended,” she said.
Yañez also accused Fernandez’s doctor and the head of the Presidential Medical Unit, Federico Saavedra, of covering up one of the attacks.
She also said she “went to seek help from the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity,” which was headed by former minister Ayelén Mazzina.
“I felt like he was making fun of me,” Yañez said of her meeting with Mazzina. “I asked myself, ‘How could she believe that the first lady would appear in front of the building that was the flagship and the greatest political achievement of my partner, the president, to say what I was going through?’
On August 13, former minister Mazzina responded to X saying: “I was never aware of the violent situation reported by the former first lady. I will make myself available to you [the courts] because I cannot allow a lie about what happened or the trivialization of gender violence,” she said.
Alberto Fernández: “I have never hit a woman”
Monday, Fernández said country“I am being accused of something I did not do. I didn’t hit Fabiola. I’ve never hit a woman.”
However, he admitted that arguments with Yañez were frequent and there could be “verbal violence” and it was “mutual”. Fernández believes that “someone is motivating Fabiola in other ways.”
The former president added that during all his past relationships he has never used physical violence against anyone. “I was with the mother of my eldest son [Estanislao] for 18 years and with Vilma Ibarra [former Legal and Technical Secretary during his presidency] for 11 years and I have never had an episode of this nature. I have seen the pictures in the media, but I did not have access to this case [files] still. They never came to my attention by any means. What I will do is wait, go to court and the court will decide,” he said.
He added, “For four years I have been president of this country and I have promoted gender policies and I know that in such cases the burden of proof is reversed and the person is presumed guilty and must prove his innocence. I will prove it.”
reaction
Current President Javier Milei, an outspoken critic of Fernández, remarked through his X account about his predecessor’s situation.
“The case involves former president Alberto Fernández, champion of feminism, beating his wife Fabiola Yáñez,” the head of state said. He continued: “This does NOT mean that Fabiola Yañez has not been complicit (especially during the pandemic) in many of the deviations of the terrible government of Kirshnerism.”
Milei also denounced a “complicit silence” of Argentine journalists who allegedly “were funded by the state”.
“All these events happened while the media explained to us that they were the good guys and those of us who wanted a free Argentina were the bad guys,” he said.
Cristina Kirchner, former vice president under Fernández, also criticized him. “Alberto Fernández was not a good President,” she began her statement on X. “The photos of Mrs. Fabiola Yañez with bruises on her body and face, along with the published conversations that reveal the dialogue between her and the former president, do not show not only the beating he took, but also reveal the dirtier and darker aspects of the human condition. They allow us to see, once again and in a dramatic way, the situation of women in any relationship, be it in a palace or a hut”, she wrote.
