Since arriving in Madrid, almost two months ago, former president
Alberto Fernández refuses to talk about Argentina
.
He did not grant a single report although, according to those around him, he is overwhelmed by
interview proposals from international media
.
Spanish, French.
Even Russians.
“He doesn't want to make statements outside of Argentina,” say those who speak with him.
Clarín learned that the former president is upset with people thinking that he is not going to return to the country and that he traveled to Spain to look for a job that he did not get.
“It was implied that Alberto was traveling to Madrid and closing with Real Madrid and not even Betis is interested in him.
And it is not like that.
He neither came to play for Real Madrid nor did he think about playing for Betis
.
There is nothing like that,” they clarify from his surroundings.
When he settled in Madrid - he got an apartment near the PSOE headquarters - Alberto Fernández was seen in a branch of Banco Santander on Serrano Street, having dinner on December 31 at the Four Seasons hotel in the city center and having lunch at Narciso, a French brasserie in the Chamberí neighborhood.
Those images, improvised by cell phones that “discovered” him
, went viral on social networks.
But his
first public appearance
was a few days ago, when he attended the Casasur Art gallery, in the Malasaña neighborhood,
to present the first novel by an Argentine journalist
.
During the presentation, which was attended by a handful of guests and whose
entrance was jealously guarded
, the former president gave his opinion on the damage that
fake news
causes to democracy.
He did not make
any direct reference to Argentine politics
, but the Spanish press reproduced some of his statements: “
Fake news
became tremendous instruments to generate hatred towards politics and spread the idea that politics is the cause of social sufferings.” .
This
phenomenon is very harmful to democracy
,” said Alberto.
He also referred to the
social unrest that arose during the pandemic
: “It led many societies to vote the opposite of whoever governed.”
“Talk to Daer and Massa every day”
He arrived in Madrid less than two months ago and, according to those who are very close to him, his daily life is full of commitments and
he never lost contact with Argentina
.
“He speaks every day with (the CGT leader Héctor) Daer and with (the former Minister of Economy and presidential candidate Sergio) Massa,” say those who accompany him.
Less than a month before Pope Francis received President Javier Milei at the Vatican, Alberto was in Rome for a private audience with Bergoglio.
He traveled with his little son, Francisco, with a friend and a custodian.
The former first lady, Fabiola Yañez, missed it due to appendicitis that kept her in Madrid.
They say that the former president received proposals to give conferences in Italy, France and Spain.
He declined the invitation for the first two - in Turin and Paris - and is studying what to do in Spain.
“If it is about geopolitical issues, it could be, but he is not going to talk about Argentina
,” say those who know well.
Some professors would have also invited him to teach at the Autonomous University of Madrid and Salamanca.
But he, as he made known on his networks,
decided to close the private educational group Proeduca.
Alberto will be an advisor to the institution in a distance education development project for Latin America, focused on those who abandoned their university studies.
The former president will be in charge of making academic agreements with Argentine and Latin American universities for which
he will travel frequently around the continent
.
He will also follow Proeduca initiatives that study the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of young people and adolescents.
They say that, since he has been in Madrid,
he met with Argentine friends who lived years ago in Spain
, with local businessmen and that they even organized a dinner for him attended by former ministers of former president Felipe González, who governed the Spanish between 1982 and nineteen ninety six.
He was with President
Pedro Sánchez
at the Moncloa Palace and with the former head of the Spanish government
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
, with whom he shares the Puebla Group.
He would also have received a call to join the World Jurist
Association
, a non-profit organization concerned with promoting the rule of law.
“A world governed by law, not by force
,” is the premise of the association that was founded in 1963.
Escape from “Argentine madness”
“I clarify that it is not in my mind to settle outside of Argentina or have residence in another country,” Fernández said on social networks on December 14.
A week later
he traveled to Madrid
, where he was reunited with Fabiola Yañez and Francisco, his youngest son, who will turn 2 years old in April.
Yañez and his baby had flown to Spain in the first days of December, before Fernández finished his mandate
.
At the beginning of February it emerged that the former president had already started the procedures to collect the lifetime pension for having held office.
According to Buenos Aires legislator Graciela Ocaña, it would be
“around 7 million pesos per month”
that, according to law 24,018 that regulates these pensions, he could collect if he remains domiciled in Argentina.
“I am looking
to achieve peace of mind with my family
after four very difficult years, recover affection and carry out some academic activities in Spain,” Fernández commented on his networks before getting on a plane, on December 21 of last year.
Those who know him well report that Alberto moved his family to Madrid to
“safeguard Fabiola and Francisco from the Argentine madness
. ”
They assure that he is already thinking about returning to the country, where
he would be considering starting his law firm again
.
The next few days could be a good horizon for that return.