Fabiola Yáñez on the party in Olivos during the pandemic: 'It was natural and normal'

Four years after the infamous birthday photo in Olivos, Fabiola Yáñez—former partner of Alberto Fernández and mother of his child—broke her silence from her new home in Spain, where she lives with withdrawn security. What could have been a sincere apology ended up becoming a parade of stories that reveal how power operated during the mandatory lockdown of millions of Argentines.

"It was a very big mistake. I regret it. I wasn't the one who planned it, but I was part of it", said Yáñez in an interview, acknowledging her participation in the clandestine dinner on July 14, 2020, when she celebrated her birthday at the presidential residence, while the world's longest and strictest mandatory isolation was in effect.

The image of the set table, the cake, and the toasts in Olivos spread across the country as a symbol of an unbearable double standard: while citizens were being detained for walking on the street, social gatherings were being held at the presidential residence, which, according to Fabiola, were "a normality."

"In Olivos, those dinners happened regularly. They'd tell you 'there's a dinner' and it was already set. It was natural and normal", she revealed, in a phrase that confirms what many suspected: the lockdown was only for the lower classes. "It was a very big mistake, but in Olivos those dinners were a normality, they happened regularly", she expressed.

"It was something that has no justification at all, of course, but it was nothing more than a meal, that's what it was.", she added. "Perhaps people don't know that the Casa Rosada was moved to Olivos, to the Cabinet Headquarters. All the ministers worked every day at the Olivos Cabinet Headquarters. So that was a normality. And suddenly in Olivos, they'd tell you: 'There's a dinner,' and the dinner was already ready. And that was natural and normal.", she commented.

The confession doesn't come alone. Yáñez also alluded to the scandal of the ex-president's infidelities, recounting personal episodes of emotional manipulation, paternal absence, and indirect violence. "I'm responsible, I was there. But it hurt to bear it all alone", she lamented, while emphasizing that the Casa Rosada had "moved to Olivos."

The interview also exposed the 'human' side of a separation filled with cross accusations. Fabiola denounced that Fernández tried to discredit her by accusing her of "psychiatric imbalance", something she compared to 18th-century practices used to control women.

"It hurts me that he says that. He never cared to know if his child had a fever at night. For his birthday, he said he was going to come, and that same day he said he didn't have a ticket. I don't know if he can't afford it", she explained through tears.