MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Thursday, May 28th 2026 - 21:35 UTC
Minutes of the Argentine Submarine Force Advisory Council signed by fourteen navy captains on 30 April 2017, seven months before the implosion of the ARA San Juan in the South Atlantic, have become central evidence in the ongoing oral trial before the Federal Oral Court of Santa Cruz, based in Río Gallegos. The document, cited by the Argentine outlet Infobae, details the technical issues outstanding and the operational restrictions affecting the submarine before its final mission, and constitutes one of the central elements of the debate over the eventual criminal responsibility of the four former senior naval commanders charged in the case.
The meeting, held at the Submarine and Diving School in Mar del Plata, was chaired by the then Submarine Force inspector, Captain Gabriel Attis, now retired with the rank of commodore. The session was convened at the request of the then Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, Admiral Marcelo Eduardo Srur, amid concern about the possibility that the Submarine Force could be left without operational units during maintenance processes. The Navy then had three units in service: the ARA Salta, of Type 209 class, and the ARA Santa Cruz and ARA San Juan, of TR-1700 class. Among those attending were two of the current defendants in the trial: the then commander of the Submarine Force, Captain Claudio Javier Villamide, and the then Chief of Staff of the force, Captain Héctor Aníbal Alonso, the latter serving as secretary of the session.
