The president of Argentina celebrates the birth of his second son

Alberto Fernández and his partner, Fabiola Yáñez, pay tribute to the Pope and name their baby Francisco

The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, has been a father for the second time at the age of 63. At 1:21 a.m. on Monday, his partner, Fabiola Yáñez, gave birth to Francisco by cesarean section, a baby weighing just over 3.50 kilos who was named Francisco, in honor of the Pope. The news was confirmed by Fernández at dawn, with a message that he uploaded to his account on his Instagram. “With your mother @fabiolaoficialok we are immensely happy. Welcome to life !!!”, the president wrote, along with the photo of the impression of the sole of the child’s feet. “It is a unique moment. I always said that the happiest moment of my life was when Estanislao [his first son, born 27 years ago from a previous marriage] was born. It is a very gratifying moment,” Fernández said in a radio interview in the morning.

Fabiola Yáñez, 40, became pregnant when Fernández was already president. Little by little, she was abandoning her protocol tasks, until in the last stretch of her pregnancy she was no longer seen accompanying her husband in official acts. Francisco is the first son of Yáñez, a journalist and actress who met President Fernández when he was away from active politics, after being chief minister of Néstor and Cristina Kirchner between 2003 and 2008.

The president had already anticipated that his second son would be called Francisco, after the Argentine who today occupies the head of the Catholic Church. “The name of Francis has a lot to do with the Pope, that name represents a lot of what the Pope represents as a leader. It is well known that I am not a practicing Catholic, but I do recognize in him a moral leader of enormous stature and it is pleasing that he bears his name, like Francis of Assisi too,” Fernández said.

It is the first time in 100 years that an Argentine president is a father while he is in office. The novelty, however, was not so much in the nineteenth century. Nicolás Avellaneda, president between 1874 and 1880, had, for example, four children during his six years in office.

The arrival of Francisco gave Alberto Fernández a little fresh air. The economic crisis and the tensions that are breaking down his government coalition, Together for Change, have kept him up at night for weeks. So much so that the baby managed to break the ice that he maintains with his vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, with whom he no longer speaks, not even on the phone. The former president, responsible for Alberto Fernández being in the Casa Rosada today, sent flowers to the presidential couple and uploaded a short text on networks: “Congratulations to both of you and good luck to Francisco.”

President Fernández announced that he will not take any leave, and that while his partner recovers from the cesarean section, he will work from the clinic where Francisco was born. “Now an advisor is coming in,” he said during the interview with Radio 10. Asked if there will finally be changes in his cabinet of ministers, a rumor that has taken wings, Fernández responded in tune with the circumstances: “Now I have to think about the diapering”.