Socialist former President of Argentina Alberto Fernández filed a formal request on Thursday to rescind the authorization that allows his two-year old son Francisco to reside in Spain with his ex-wife and former first lady Fabiola Yáñez.
Fernández, the self-proclaimed “first feminist president” of Argentina, was indicted in August for allegedly beating Yáñez and is banned from leaving Argentina. The ex-president reportedly argued in the request submitted to a local criminal court that he believes that the child is “not being cared for by his mother” and demanded his immediate return to Argentina so that his “safety and paternal contact be guaranteed.”
The former president’s legal complaint comes amid an ongoing separate controversy involving Yáñez that arose this week after a viral video showed the former first lady celebrating the new year at a lavish restaurant in Madrid with her new partner. The controversy prompted President Javier Milei to request that Argentine courts rescind the state-funded police protection Yáñez receives in Spain by order of the Argentine judiciary.
Milei asserted that it is “nonsense” that the Argentine state continues to pay for Yáñez’s protection that, according to government officials, cost taxpayers more than $300,000 in the past six months.
Argentine courts granted federal police protection to Yáñez in August after the former first lady denounced Fernández for allegedly committing several acts of violence against her before and during Fernández’s presidency, which lasted from 2019 to 2023. The alleged incidents included beating her while she was pregnant with her now two-year-old child and being forced by the former president to have an abortion in 2016. Argentina’s Security Ministry is currently preparing a report to determine if there is still a risk to Yáñez’s security that warrants the need to maintain the federal police protection.
Yáñez formally denounced Fernández in August 2024 days after Argentine investigators found evidence of the alleged physical abuse stored in a phone belonging to Fernández’s former secretary. The evidence was found as part of an unrelated insurance fraud case that Fernández was charged for in early 2024.
In his recently filed request, submitted through his lawyer, former President Fernández stated that he learned through “various national media outlets” that President Milei and Security Minister Patricia Bullrich “have ordered the withdrawal of the custody assigned to Mrs. Fabiola Yañez, mother of my youngest son Francisco.”
“The decision to withdraw custody, far from being an isolated administrative act, endangers the physical and emotional integrity of the minor, who has no capacity for self-defense against possible threats or situations of vulnerability inherent to his family and media environment,” the request reportedly read.
Sources close to Fernández told the Argentine newspaper La Nación that the former president’s reasons behind the request go beyond Milei’s calls to revoke Yáñez’s court-mandated and state-funded protection, which she continues to receive at press time.
Throughout the complaint filed on Thursday, Fernández reportedly alluded to Yáñez’s lifestyle and expenses incurred while living in Madrid to substantiate his request to revoke the custody authorization. La Nación reported that, as part of the domestic violence case against Fernández, both parties reached financial agreements for the care of two-year-old Francisco. Courts ordered the former president to give 30 percent of the privilege retirement pension that he receives for being a former head of state to Yáñez.
“For example, the defendant has exceeded the mileage limit by more than 16,000 kilometers on a car rented to cover the needs of our son who is only two years and eight months old, clearly not to take Francisco to school, she has made excessive credit card spending, despite having a substantial alimony set by the Family Court,” Fernández’s request reportedly read.
Fernández also accused Yáñez of “publicly exposing” the child by giving interviews to different outlets and accused the former First Lady of having “alcohol problems.”
The former president argued in his request, according to La Nación:
On December 31, she was seen celebrating the end of the year in a restaurant that offered an ‘open bar’ and wines ‘paired’ with the dishes. This is what it implies, given the tone of the messages I received, regarding an evident state of intoxication that I initially consider could be due to excessive alcohol consumption,” says Fernández, referring to a series of calls that those close to her claim she received one morning a couple of weeks ago.
Francisco, our son, was not at the dinner. I don’t know where he was that night, or who was looking after him while his mother was celebrating by drinking alcohol and enjoying good food. Our son was not able to celebrate the festivities with his father because of his mother’s unilateral and arbitrary wish.
La Nación pointed out that Fernández appeared to “align himself” with his successor, President Javier Milei, by claiming the former first lady “leads a life without any risk.”
“If she felt any fear, she would not expose herself to public places as she does. In those terms, the need for custody is not understood,” Fernández argued. “But Francisco’s safety must be preserved.”
“I have come to state my decision to revoke the authorization for the child to reside in Madrid (authorization that will expire indefectible next April and which I will communicate to the Spanish immigration authorities) and to request that the pertinent measures be taken so that the child immediately returns to Argentina and is protected by the custody that has been assigned to me,” Fernández reportedly said through the complaint.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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