Uruguay
LocationCountryUruguay
LocationCountryUruguay is a South American republic whose Air Force has run CRIDOVNI, an official UFO reporting commission, since 1979, and which began technical exchanges with the Pentagon's AARO in 2025.
Uruguay is a South American republic whose Air Force has run CRIDOVNI, an official UFO reporting commission, since 1979, and which began technical exchanges with the Pentagon's AARO in 2025.
Uruguay is a republic in southeastern South America, bordered by Argentina to the west, Brazil to the north, the Río de la Plata to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It covers about 176,000 square kilometers and counted 3.5 million people in its 2023 census, more than half of them in the metropolitan area of Montevideo, the capital. Its place in UAP history rests less on one famous incident than on an institution: a standing military commission that has taken public reports for more than four decades.
The Uruguayan Air Force created CRIDOVNI, the Commission for the Reception and Investigation of Reports of Unidentified Flying Objects, in 1979 to support air traffic control after repeated sighting reports around the country. In 2022 the weekly Búsqueda reported that it had studied about 1,570 reports and found no conventional explanation for about 3 percent of them. Its president, Colonel Ariel Sánchez, said then that the commission works on an honorary basis, has never had its own budget, and had never been consulted by a president or legislator.
The commission also answers public alarms. In August 2021 it said viral videos showing UFOs and American personnel at Parque del Jagüel in Maldonado were "not real," part of a teaser campaign for a music festival. In February 2023 the Air Force said it had sent CRIDOVNI investigators to Paysandú department to interview witnesses after reports of flashing red lights near Almirón. Residents continued to post sightings of unexplained lights online in 2026.
Its international profile rose in 2025. Records obtained by John Greenewald and published in September 2026 show that the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office arranged an August 4, 2025 Pentagon meeting with CRIDOVNI representatives before its UAP workshop, asking about their methods, notable cases and handling of reports with little technical data. In July 2026 AARO said it had met the commission for technical discussions and to learn from its "decades of experience." AARO director Jon Kosloski gave a presentation on UAP during the visit, and the Uruguayan Air Force said Uruguay was being considered to host a South American workshop on standardizing data collection. Uruguay's significance is that its small, unfunded commission, the only South American body registered for AARO's 2025 workshop, now has documented working ties to the Pentagon's UAP office.
🚨NEW RECORDS REVEAL AARO'S OUTREACH TO SOUTH AMERICAN UFO INVESTIGATORS New records obtained by John Greenewald at The Black Vault show AARO arranging a Pentagon meeting with representatives of CRIDOVNI, Uruguay's official UFO investigation unit, ahead of its August 2025 UAP workshop. The emails give us a fairly specific idea of what AARO wanted to discuss. It asked about CRIDOVNI's investigative methods, its most interesting UFO cases and how it handles witness reports with little or no tec...
[Retweeted] 🚨Inside AARO’s UAP workshop: Newly released records identify speakers/panelists, detail the agenda, and reveal that AARO was discussing a future working relationship with Uruguay’s UAP investigators... including a separate meeting at the Pentagon. https://t.co/Ljtni6IfgC
[Retweeted] 🚨Inside AARO’s UAP workshop: Newly released records identify speakers/panelists, detail the agenda, and reveal that AARO was discussing a future working relationship with Uruguay’s UAP investigators... including a separate meeting at the Pentagon. https://t.co/Ljtni6IfgC
🚨Inside AARO’s UAP workshop: Newly released records identify speakers/panelists, detail the agenda, and reveal that AARO was discussing a future working relationship with Uruguay’s UAP investigators... including a separate meeting at the Pentagon. https://t.co/Ljtni6IfgC
Their 6th post this year! https://t.co/ywTpKzlCeI [Quoted] In July, @DoW_AARO met with Uruguay’s Commission for the Reception and Investigation of Reports of Unidentified Flying Objects (CRIDOVNI) to hold technical discussions and learn from CRIDOVNI’s decades of experience, as well as plan future collaboration. https://t.co/sGC9pbYN2U
RT @DoW_AARO: In July, @DoW_AARO met with Uruguay’s Commission for the Reception and Investigation of Reports of Unidentified Flying Object…
In July, @DoW_AARO met with Uruguay’s Commission for the Reception and Investigation of Reports of Unidentified Flying Objects (CRIDOVNI) to hold technical discussions and learn from CRIDOVNI’s decades of experience, as well as plan future collaboration. https://t.co/sGC9pbYN2U
AARO Director Jon Kosloski was recently in Uruguay giving a presentation on UAP "The Uruguayan Air Force continues to strengthen international cooperation in the field of aerospace research. Through the Commission for Receipt and Investigating Reports of Unidentified Flying Objects (CRIDOVNI), the Uruguayan Air Force held working meetings and technical workshops with the U.S. Department of Defense’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), with the aim of exchanging experiences and streng...
