A few days before the third anniversary of the tragedy of the San Juan submarine belonging to the Navy of the Argentinian Republic, where its 44 crew members perished, it was announced that the military commanders linked to the poor management of this event will be submitted to a court martial.

They are Admiral Marcelo Eduardo Srur, former head of the Navy during the administration of Mauricio Macri, Rear Admiral Enrique López Mazzeo and six other officers accused of serious offences committed before, during and after the disaster.

The last contact made with the ship was on November 15, 2017, and eight days later the government reported that, according to sonic records obtained, there was "an anomalous, singular, short, violent and non-nuclear event consistent with an explosion."

A convoluted way of saying that the submarine exploded -- rather imploded -- and there was no possibility of finding survivors.  

The pain and uncertainty of the relatives lasted unnecessarily until November 16th, 2018, when the discovery of the ship's remains was officially known and the initial hypothesis was ratified.

We say unnecessarily, because Macri's government knew the truth about these facts 20 days after the tragedy, as Rear Admiral López Mazzeo recognized in the civil proceedings carried out for these events.

It has yet to be established why Macri hid the information for a year and even hired a company to conduct an investigation which results were known in advance.

There are plenty of reasons for former President Macri to be charged in a civil trial and in the recently convened court martial.  After all, he was the General Commander of the Argentinian Armed Forces.

It is also known that the San Juan submarine was not in good technical condition to undertake the mission assigned to it, which consisted of a long patrol in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, two thousand kilometers in a straight line from its base in Mar del Plata.

There was, therefore, irresponsibility through the chain of command, the concealed information prolonged the suffering of dozens of families, the country and the international community were deceived and now there’s a legitimate right to know the whole truth and to sanction, by both military and civilian means, the guilty parties.

Justice is not revenge.  It is the only possibility to repair the damage caused to the social structure and to provide some compensation to the victims.