Argentina’s Former President Fernández Beat First Lady, Prosecutors Say

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Argentina’s Former President Fernández Beat First Lady, Prosecutors Say

Argentine prosecutors on Wednesday accused Alberto Fernández, Argentina’s former president who left office in December, of domestic ********* after images showed his partner at the time, the former first lady, with a ****** eye.

In court documents filed on Wednesday, prosecutors accused Mr. Fernández of carrying out “grievous bodily harm” and “coercive threats” against Fabiola Yáñez, his partner, while he was president. A federal judge will decide whether to indict Mr. Fernández on those two charges, which could carry a prison sentence.

Mr. Fernández, 65, who was president from 2019 to 2023, has denied the accusations. “I’ve never hit a woman,” he told the media outlet El País.

What happened?

Prosecutors said Mr. Fernández repeatedly struck Ms. Yáñez, 43, and subjected her to psychological ****** while the couple lived in Argentina’s presidential residence outside Buenos Aires. They said it was common for Mr. Fernández to slap Ms. Yáñez so hard that it left her cheek “burning.” In one instance, prosecutors said, he punched Ms. Yáñez in the eye, leaving her with a ****** eye. Prosecutors accused Mr. Fernández of kicking Ms. Yáñez in the stomach in August 2021, knowing she could be pregnant.

Ms. Yáñez has said that Mr. Fernández also controlled her movements and forced her to have an ********* in 2016, when ********* was still ******** in Argentina. The couple never married, but they were together for more than a decade before splitting recently. They have a child together.

The accusations came to light when investigators found photos of Ms. Yáñez with a ****** eye and a bruised arm on the phone of Mr. Fernández’s former secretary. Investigators were searching the phone as part of a separate investigation into an alleged embezzlement scheme, in which prosecutors are also seeking charges against Mr. Fernández.

After news of the photos leaked in the Argentine press, Ms. Yáñez filed a judicial complaint against Mr. Fernández and gave an interview to the Argentine news site Infobae detailing her accusations. The former first lady said she decided to speak out despite receiving numerous threats from Mr. Fernández and people close to him.

Who is Fernández?

Mr. Fernández was elected in 2019 as part of a left-leaning ticket with former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who led the country from 2007 through 2015 and served as his vice president.

Mr. Fernández’s presidency was engulfed by an economic crisis that only kept growing. His administration’s policies to try to prop up the Argentine economy and currency — by printing more Argentine pesos, delaying enormous debt payments and creating a byzantine set of currency rules — helped send Argentina into an economic tailspin in 2022. Inflation soared by triple digits, the fastest of any nation at one point, and the currency’s value collapsed.

The crisis made Mr. Fernández deeply unpopular, and he declined to seek a second term.

Last year, a libertarian economist and television pundit, Javier Milei, won the presidency by promising to strip down Argentina’s government and slash regulations. Under Mr. Milei’s austerity measures, ******** has continued to increase, surpassing 50 percent, but he has said he needs more time to fix the economy.

How has Argentina reacted?

The ****** allegations have dominated the national conversation in Argentina since local media outlets first reported on the photos of a bruised Ms. Yáñez earlier this month. More details leaked over the past week, including reports of text messages that appear to show Mr. Fernández acknowledging domestic *********.

Mr. Fernández, who was already deeply disliked when he left office, according to opinion surveys, has faced condemnation from across the political spectrum. Many have pointed to the case as an example of a larger problem of ********* against women that is often concealed and ignored. Mr. Fernández publicly described himself as a feminist, and Argentina’s Congress legalized ********* during his presidency.

“Misogyny, machismo, and hypocrisy, which are the pillars of verbal or physical ********* against women, have no party affiliation and permeate all levels of society,” Ms. Fernández de Kirchner wrote on social media after the photos leaked.

Mr. Milei and his allies have seized on the accusations, criticizing both Mr. Fernández and what they called ineffective government spending on initiatives to curtail domestic *********.

What’s next?

Prosecutors will now expand their investigation, including by questioning the presidential doctor and staff at the presidential residence. An Argentine federal judge will then decide whether to indict the former president.

Mr. Fernández, who is now forbidden from leaving Argentina and from contacting Ms. Yáñez, has not been seen outside his Buenos Aires apartment since the accusations emerged two weeks ago.

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