- Uruguay - Air Force Declassified Files
- ET Hypothesis Not Dismissed
- By Daniel Iglesias
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- 40 UFO cases remained unexplained in Uruguay
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- The UFO phenomenon has manifested itself many times in
Uruguay. Thirty years after research began, 40 cases remain unexplained.
The files were declassified and EL PAIS was allowed access to them
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- The Uruguayan Air Force will not publish a "Blue
Book" containing the results of its 30 years of research, but the
high command allowed EL PAIS access to records and eyewitness accounts.
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- While the Air Force commission that studies these cases
has been operating for only a few decades, the UFO phenomenon began in
Uruguay in 1947, at the same time that worldwide enthusiasm for the subject
commenced. While Uruguay is no Roswell, the emblematic location for the
subject of ETs, it is a place that is catalogued as propitious for seeing
unidentified flying objects, according to Col. Ariel Sanchez, an Air Force
officer with 33 years of active service and who has formed part of the
UFO commission since 1989. He currently presides over it.
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- The agency operates out of a small office located in
downtown Montevideo and has a computer database and print archives as
well, which have not yet been computerized. There are hundreds of files
in green binders under the heading "Confidential", containing
eyewitness accounts, photographs, sketches, drawings, documents and evaluations
made by officials.
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- Unsolved cases. The files consist of reports that accrue
at a rate of 100 cases per year. The commission has received approximately
2100 solid reports and has researched and dismissed many for various reasons.
But there are still 40 cases lacking an explanation. These files have been
kept open, and range from sightings and landings of alleged craft to so-called
abductions, that is to say, report on the kidnapping of persons by extraterrestrial
entities.
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- The international definition conceived by U.S. astrophysicist
Allen Hynek divides these situations into three categories: encounters
of the first kind are those involving a sighting; those of the second kind
are those that record a landing, and the third kind -- the sort most exploited
by filmmakers -- make reference to an encounter with an unidentified flying
object and its occupants.
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- The military commission's task is to compile a record
of cases and draft guidelines or conclusions regarding their veracity and
origin. They have obtained solid results: "The commission managed
to determine modifications to the chemical composition of the soil where
landings are reported. The phenomenon exists. It could be a phenomenon
that occurs in the lower sectors of the atmosphere, the landing of aircraft
from a foreign air force, up to the extraterrestrial hypothesis. It could
a monitoring probe from outer space, much in the same way that we send
probes to explore distant worlds," stated the officer. "The UFO
phenomenon exists in the country. I must stress that the Air Force does
not dismiss an extraterrestrial hypothesis based on our scientific analysis,"
said Sanchez.
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- The commission still keeps several paper files, above
all those involving open cases. The FAU (Uruguayan Air Force) has now declassified
all of its information, even those labeled "confidential". Only
the identity of the witnesses remains undisclosed. All manner of situations
can be found while perusing the file. In a case that occurred some time
ago in the Department of Durazno, the witness reported the appearance of
places where an aircraft appeared to have landed. Upon analyzing the soil's
composition, an increase in the values of minerals such as chrome, manganese,
phosphorus and carbon was detected, enabling researchers to conclude that
the event had indeed been real.
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- Another singular case is found in these military annals:
the appearance of two reddish spheres, flying silently over the heads of
two teamsters driving cattle. The objects moved at high speed in opposite
directions and the vanished toward the West at high speed.
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- Records indicate that the months prone to most manifestations
of these objects are February, March, July and October. In February of
this year (2009), the commission received numerous reports accompanied
by digital photographs. Photographs or film are not a determining factor
in any case, but rather a contribution, explains Sanchez, given the current
technical possibilities for hoaxing images.
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- Unsolved cases have a considerable high strangeness quotient
for the FAU. For example, the 1986 pursuit by two Pucara jet fighters over
the Palmar Dam in response to the maneuvers of a luminous sphere. The pilots
joined together and decided to chase it. When they were about to intercept
it, the sphere flew off at a dizzying rate of speed toward Argentina and
could not be reached. When the pilots returned to their base, the sphere
reappeared over the dam. But the same thing occurred - the chase occurred
and it vanished from sight, changing colors from red to yellow.
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- A similar case occurred to a group of military pilots
in 1996, that is to say, qualified observers engaged in exercises over
the Santa Bernardina base in Durazno. As in 1986, they saw two luminous
spheres, whose presence was corroborated by the airport's control tower.
When the objects flew away, they maintained their shape and luminosity,
which enabled the spherical shape to be confirmed. Minutes later, the pilots
noticed their glow diminished, and only their outline was illuminated.
"The weren't satellites, as they do not fly in formation or that low,
since these objects were at 10,000 feet (3,000 meters, approximately),
nor do satellites diminish their glow," says Sanchez.
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- Among other reports we find the one by the crew of a
commercial airline - a domestic carrier - that was pursued by a powerful
light in 1979 as it returned from Paraguay. The light was even photographed
by passengers. This case is also unexplained.
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- The Air Force also has visual reports of a dozen mutilated
animals whose carcasses betrayed incisions made with surgical precision.
These reports go back to 2002. No coherent explanation was ever found,
but research by the military commission suggests the hypothesis that it
was a possible biochemical attach that probably occurred in Argentina,
where 700 mutilated animals were found. "It could have been the result
of winds blowing from the West," said the officer. FAU does not dismiss
the possibility of an extraterrestrial event. This is another unsolved
case.
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- Military statistics show that the customary profile of
people reporting sightings involve young men up to 45 years of age. They
also indicate that cases occur in the early hours of the evening, and usually
involve a single witness. 49% of statistics are made up of reports of luminous
spheres; barely 2% include occupant sightings.
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- Nor has Uruguay been immune to close encounters of the
third kind. The most chilling aspect of any UFO case is usually a report
involving the abduction of humans for research purposes.
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- There have been several cases in Uruguay that remain
unexplained. One of them occurred in Playa Pascual in 1980 and involved
a camper, who was on the shore at night and was suddenly taken by surprise
by short beings who immobilized him and conveyed him to a vehicle, where
he was subjected to a medical examination. He later woke up in his tent
and had a hard time moving. Another "missing time" case involved
a family that was driving along the road when an aircraft flew over their
vehicle and landed in front of them. They were unable to account for what
had occurred to them for several minutes.
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- (Translation (c) 2009, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks
to Lucas Grossi, noticiasufo.blogspot.com)
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