Alberto Fernandez knew his dog had influencer potential, so in January 2019, before he Cristina Kirchner even offered him the nomination for President, he decided it was a good idea that Dylanhis Collie breed dog, had an account of his own in Instagram. Perhaps, at that time, he already saw himself as a potential minister in a hypothetical Peronist government. In the end, luck was higher for him and he ended up in Rivadavia’s chair.
That year, the account Dylan on Instagram it had started with regular posts during January, but then it was cut. She spent February without any signs of activity and the same in March and April. Until the news of his candidacy arrived in May. And two days later the dog’s account became active again. What had happened? Who is behind that account? The explanation is simpler than it seems. Fernández is an active user of social networks, but he still has a community manager called Cecilia Beautiful (the community manager responsible for the Government’s social networks). With her began to work the account @dylanferdezok which became a place where the President says things that he could not from the official accounts.
Last week, the account made headlines because with a nice image it sought to respond to a controversy surrounding the trainer of the President’s pet, Ariel Zapata. The story originates from an appointment at the Ministry of Security. the minister Hannibal Fernandez He put him in charge of the Directorate of Operational Planning and Monitoring Center, which has under its orbit the area that specializes in training dogs for security tasks such as drug and explosive detection. The news that Dylan’s handler had been appointed in the Ministry of Security was replicated on various portals, but the Presidency did not make an official statement, so they decided to do it “unofficially”, via the dog’s own account.
“Reading Clarín I saw that they said that they appointed ‘my trainer’ in the Ministry of Security,” the post began. “I asked Alberto if he knew him, he told me no. I asked the Professor Romero (My veterinarian) did know him and he told me that he accompanied him once, to teach me how to treat Prócer, my eldest son, well,” he added, finally concluding: “Poor sir, this alleged trainer of mine. He gave me some good advice for free and they write it down like this.” The latter was that the Government was interested in clarifying. It was not a daily trainer of the presidential dog, but a specific consultation that was made to the specialist. The trainer was known because during the pandemic he had gone to the Quinta de Olivos to work with Dylan, when there were restrictions to circulate. The episode had caused outrage, because while a large part of society could not leave their homes, the president’s dog received VIP assistance.
The controversy around the personal social networks of the President is that they are managed by officials who collect money from the State for the Government’s digital communication. Is it wrong for those same employees to post on the dog’s account Dylan? Of course it does, but it enters a gray area in which there are no transparency controls between public and private.
