Weekly Report - 24 January 2013 (WR-13-03)

Commentators in search of a metaphor for Argentina’s government did not have to scratch their heads for too long this week. After listing to port for a few days, and after repeated assurances by the navy that the situation was under control, the ARA Santísima Trinidad, the destroyer which carried the first Argentine troops to the Falklands in 1982, finally sank at its berth in Puerto Belgrano. The culprit: a burst pipe, though the defence minister, Arturo Puricelli, did not rule out sabotage, noting the “striking” fact this episode happened so quickly after the liberation of the Libertad frigate.