Date of publication
7/3/2018
Description of the project
After the disappearance of the ARA San Juan, we began researching at LA NACION the purchases made by the Argentine Navy for the maintenance of the submarine. Without any specific hypothesis as a starting point, we cared about understanding the general context of the disappearance of the ARA San Juan. As we went deeper on this matter, we researched on the SAR (Search and Rescue) Operation and the help provided by other countries.
However, we asked ourselves what part of the whole system we were not aware of, what elements we did not consider. So, we decided to request access to information in order to know about the life insurance of the crew members. The request was made on December 6, 2017 to the Ministry of Defense. Said request included a large number of questions. The Ministry began providing the answers at longer intervals as the internal institutions provided the documents.
Finally, on January 31, 2018, we received the information regarding the life insurances of the crew members: 32 families out of the 44 crew members on board the ARA San Juan received less than $50.000 (Pesos of Argentina, approximately 2.500 US dollars).
What makes this project innovative?
As regards this matter, no mass media had focused on this specific subject. On one hand, news stories from November onwards looked into audits, purchases and submarine failures. On the other hand, those documents that we had accessed included public information, but it was not available. That is to say, said information was not available on the website of the Argentine Navy.
What was the impact of the project?
This news story was replicated in digital mass media and broadcast TV. Some examples are: news article on La Gaceta, news story on Telefé Noticias, news article on Ámbito Financiero.
Source and methodology
To write this story, we used the documents provided with the request of public information. Besides these documents, we contacted the families of the crew members.
Team work:
Pablo Fernández Blanco, Romina Colman y Florencia Abd
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