Hopes Dashed, Relatives of Argentine Submarine Crew Turn to Grief and Anger
Last year, Argentina spent about 1 percent of its gross domestic product on the military, lagging behind neighbors like Chile, which spent 1.9 percent,
and Brazil, which spent 1.3 percent, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Even as a multinational search effort combed the seas last weekend, braving stormy weather and 22-foot waves, analysts at the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna began considering whether the steady stream of information from monitors
that track sound and earth movements across the world may have picked up clues about the missing vessel.
After piecing the two assessments together, and finding
that they both pointed to an explosion in the area where the submarine was known to have been, Argentine military officials decided to break the news to relatives.
If the sailors perished, it would be the deadliest submarine catastrophe since the sinking of the Kursk — a Russian vessel brought down by a misfired weapon in 2000 —
and the Argentine military’s largest loss of life since the Falklands War of 1982.
The organization shared its findings with the Argentine ambassador in Vienna on Thursday, after concluding
that it was “similar to other water explosions observed previously.”
That finding was broadly in line with an assessment the United States shared with Argentina on Tuesday night.
“Instead of spending on other matters, why don’t you spend on something truly important, like the life of all our relatives,” an unidentified woman
asked Mr. Macri on Monday when he traveled to the resort city of Mar del Plata, according to a video of the meeting that was posted online.