“It’s defamation. Everything has been twisted based on one piece of information,” was one of the first answers from figures in Alberto Fernández’s circle after news broke of gender violence allegations.
The former president is accused of beating his former partner, ex-first lady Fabiola Yáñez. The scandal has exploded, and even though the ex-president is keeping quiet, his version of the story has already surfaced.
Firstly, those close to him explained that it is “case closed” – they say that federal judge Julián Ercolini decided approximately two months ago that this matter would be dealt with separately from the case investigating alleged corruption, and that he held a hearing with the former first lady, in which she refused to report it.
They repeat that the magistrate acted “with the right standards” and they aim the finger at the Clarín newspaper that first reported the claims.
For the time being, Yáñez has made no statement yet, though her lawyer, Juan Pablo Fioribello, has talked to another media outlet, Infobae.
Her version is in line with the accounts in Fernández’s circle. “The judge offered to file a report, but she refused. I have to clarify that I saw no photos depicting violence nor do I know them to be in the case file. For that reason, the court shelved that incident, but still referred it to the Domestic Violence Office," said the lawyer.
In a subsequent radio interview, Fioribello elaborated on that: “I ask the two people who were there. One said: ‘I don’t wish to file a report, it was a couple’s argument,’ and the other one categorically denied it.”
Perfil tried to communicate with Ercolini directly, but received no answer.
From Fernández’s circle, the account of the alleged abuse can be summarised as follows: in the context of the investigation over the insurance scandal allegations, the courts expertly examined María Cantero’s conversations on WhatsApp – i.e. the former president’s long-time secretary and wife of Héctor Martínez Sosa, the insurance broker being eyed in the case, and found messages Cantero had received from Yáñez in which she implied a violent situation took place.
The magistrate decided to bring up the matter of the original file to refer it to the Gender-Based Violence Office, but from the body they replied that they lacked information to investigate the matter. For example, even though it was taken for granted that Yáñez talked to Cantero about her partner, the messages did not show his name. It was then that Ercolini decided to take the former first lady’s testimony.
The judge talked to Fioribello and he accepted that Yáñez testify by video call since she is settled in Spain. At the virtual meeting, she was consulted over the messages and refused to report the father of her son for criminal wrongdoing.
With no further tools to move forward, Ercolini closed the case. More than one person assumed the leak which put the matter in the media two months later may have come from the magistrate himself, who has been at loggerheads with the former president for years.
However, that is not the hypothesis being considered by those close to Fernández, who highlight the work done by the judge, who handled the situation in full confidence.
Who are they blaming? The Grupo Clarín, and this dates back to the conflict the multimedia group had with Fernández in 2007, when he was the Cabinet chief.
Back then, the newspaper published an investigation against then-environment secretary Romina Picolotti, alleging irregular hirings in the State. The leader publicly defended her and called a press conference to denounce a media “operation” against the official.
To this day, those close to Fernández still claim that the real problem then was that Picolotti had demanded from the owners of Papel Prensa to build a waste treatment plant to reduce pollution. The author of that investigative report, journalist Claudio Savoia, is the same person who has now disseminated that the case file of the insurance scandal contained information on alleged abuse to Yáñez.
In addition, those who defend this hypothesis add another element: last week, Fernández once again claimed that Grupo Clarín asked him to “deliver” Cristina Fernández de Kircher during his presidency, which he refused to do, further fanning the flames of the conflict.
Regardless of the versions going around, the truth is that the accusation has become consolidated in the media and social networks.
Even La Matanza mayor Mayra Mendoza, has joined the questioning and said that Fernández “fits the profile of having committed gender-based violence.” The statement caused controversy, not only because the official talked from Mexico, where she travelled as part of the retinue accompanying Fernández de Kirchner, but also because it opened a controversial debate on what that alleged “profile” might be like.
The protagonists of this story, Fernández and Yáñez, prefer not to speak in public. The former president acknowledges to his allies that during the relationship there were “heated arguments, shouting and even insults,” but he categorically denies there ever being any physical violence.
This version also includes an acknowledgement that the message from the former first lady to Cantero did exist, although they repeat that the event itself did not take place, and that is the reason why there was no report made
The only one speaking in public, for now, is Yáñez’s lawyer, whose discourse is very similar to the ex-president’s.
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