Argentine Defense Minister Oscar Aguad Tuesday said the causes of the ARA San Juan submarine's fate are closer to become known, but he pointed a finger at faulty maintenance between 2008 and 2015 under President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK).
Argentine Defense Minister Oscar Aguad said we don't have the means to resurface the [ARA San Juan] submarine, which was found between late Friday and early Saturday 800 meters underwater in the Atlantic Ocean after having gone missing a year ago.
Argentina last year chose to turn down a British offer of a minisub to search submarine ARA San Juan, it was reported Sunday. The then Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Marcelo Srur failed to convey the British offer December 5 last to Defense Minister Oscar Aguad, who confirmed the reports, according to the Buenos Aires daily Clarin.
United States based seabed survey company Ocean Infinity hopes to begin searching for the missing Argentine submarine ARA San Juan (S-42) in September. The announcement was made by Argentine defense minister Oscar Aguad.
United States Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday pledged closer defense cooperation with Argentina. Standing beside his Argentine counterpart, Oscar Aguad, Mattis said the military partnership can be strengthened and alluded to the help the U.S. Navy provided Argentina last November when one of its submarines went missing with 44 sailors aboard.
Defense Minister Oscar Aguad has rejected the idea that modifications to the Defense Bill will give Argentina's Armed Forces the power to intervene in social conflicts. He also underlined the military will not replace the Gendarmerie along the borders. The comments follow demands from the opposition to have Congress address the issue.
In a radical reform of Argentina's defense doctrine, President Mauricio Macri said on Monday he is removing a ban on military involvement in fighting crime, terrorist threats and other internal security issues. Macri said he will modify a 2006 decree that limited the armed forces to defense against attacks by another country.
In an effort to fix a persistent deterioration of relations, the President ordered a 20% rise in the salaries of the Armed Forces. It was a political decision against the fiscal austerity measures that the government promised the IMF to deserve a financial rescue of 50,000 million dollars, but necessary to calm what already threatened to become a serious storm.
The Argentine Government has formalised the withdrawal of the reward offered to anyone who could find or provide meaningful information about the whereabouts of the submarine ARA San Juan, which went missing in the Atlantic Ocean on November 15, 2017.
Argentina's Defense minister has sparked a political storm after appearing to imply the Falkland Islands are British. Oscar Aguad has been accused by the Buenos Aires media of suggesting that the Islands were not part of Argentine territory.