MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Alberto Fernández a wife beater?

Pictures and videos found in a cell phone would entangle Argentina's former president, although Yáñez has declined to file a complaint

Former Argentine President Alberto Fernández has been reported to be under investigation for allegedly beating his common-law spouse Fabiola Yáñez, according to data available on the cell phone of former presidential Secretary María Cantero, where corroborating pictures and video footage were found during an influence-peddling investigation regarding some insurance policies. Fernández is believed to have committed these aggressions at the Olivos presidential residence, according to Clarín.

Cantero's cell phone was seized in March and was later searched by the Airport Security Police (PSA). There are dozens of conversations with people linked to the investigation and with others who are not charged, as is the case of Yáñez, whose lawyer Juan Pablo Fioribello told Infobae that the court contacted the former president's former partner to ask her if she wanted to file a complaint, which she declined.

“Yes, indeed those chats existed. I found out because they contacted me from Julián Ercolini's court knowing that I am Fabiola Yañez's lawyer in other cases. They wanted to locate her because she is out of the country, she is in Madrid. I contacted the judge and we agreed to hold a private hearing. It is a private prosecution. The judge did what he had to do, he contacted the alleged victim,” Fioribello was quoted as telling Infobae.

However, in a separate interview, he told Clarín that Fernández and Yáñez had “a strong argument as a couple and nothing more” but denied there was any “physical violence” involved despite the images found and Yáñez's alleged description in those chats.

Fernández and Yáñez began their sentimental relationship in 2014 after the former president gave a talk at the university she attended. Two years later they announced their engagement via Instagram from France. When Fernández became president in December 2019, Yáñez fulfilled the role of First Lady.

In July 2021, they made headlines for a party at the presidential residence in defiance of the mandatory quarantine Fernández himself had decreed amid the Covid-19 pandemic. “My dear Fabiola called a meeting, a toast, which should not have taken place. I realize that it should not have been done and I regret that it happened,” Fernandez acknowledged a month later. On April 11, 2022, their son Francisco Fernández was born.

Yáñez lives in Spain, where she is said to have recorded a documentary called “Fabiola, the Truth.”