UFOs in Antarctica: 60 years ago, the governments of Argentina and Chile claimed to have sighted flying saucers.

A large part of the world's population shares the idea that UFOs are mysterious visitors from beyond , with the intimate hope that, one day , governments will officially and openly recognize their effective presence on Earth .

However, few remember that such a day actually existed , at least in Argentina and Chile, following events that shocked public opinion in early July 1965, 60 years ago, when Arturo Umberto Illia was president in Argentina and Eduardo Frei Montalva in Chile.

On the morning of Tuesday, July 6, 1965 , spectacular news made the front pages of all the Santiago media: the Chilean Air Force (FACh) officially reported that strange unidentified aerial objects had been seen over Antarctica from bases in Argentina, England and Chile .

The first advance in the Argentine press appeared only in the afternoon, embedded in the cover of the 5th edition of the Buenos Aires daily Crónica and spoke of " a flotilla of UFOs" over Antarctica .

The next day, with large headlines displayed across the entire page, the national morning papers reproduced a new official news bulletin, this time from the Argentine Navy .

The title admitted without euphemisms the “ sighting of unidentified flying objects in the Argentine Antarctica ” with an equally revealing text: “From the Decepción Naval Detachment in the Argentine Antarctica, a lenticular flying object was observed on July 3 at 7:40 p.m., solid in appearance, predominantly red and green in color, at times shades of yellow, blue, green, orange and white.

It was recorded moving in a general easterly direction, occasionally shifting west, at a height of 45 degrees above the horizon and at a distance of approximately 10 to 15 kilometers.

The report highlights the absence of sound and the observation of speed variations during its flight, as well as the fact that it remained stationary in space for moments. (…) The UFO was recognized by the meteorological observer of said detachment, along with 10 other members of the crew. The observation period lasted 15 to 20 minutes, and photographs were taken.

Personnel from the Orcadas Antarctic Naval Detachment also observed the reference UFO in the afternoon of the same day (…).”

To put it bluntly, UFOs were reported from the Argentine Navy's Antarctic detachments in Orcadas and Decepción, as well as from the Chilean President Aguirre Cerda base (FACh) and from the United Kingdom's "B" base (BAS), the latter two also located on Deception Island, South Shetland Archipelago .

On Thursday the 8th, a second official report from the Navy confirmed that the personnel at Decepción Base carried out a “ sighting of unidentified flying objects ” demonstrating movements incompatible with astronomical phenomena or aircraft, in addition to causing magnetic disturbances in the Orcadas Naval Detachment .

This second document introduced subtle corrections , speaking of “ a bright object, like a first magnitude star ” and leaving behind adjectives such as “solid” and “lenticular” that referred to the popular stereotype of the flying saucer.

In subsequent newspaper reports , Lieutenant Daniel A. Perissé (1936–2008, who would become a UFO expert), commander of the Deception Detachment, refuted other widespread exaggerations . For example, that a “ flotilla of UFOs ” had passed by: from each of the bases, individual, distant luminous objects were seen at different times, mostly described as a first-magnitude star.

On Deception Island, there was an Argentine, Chilean, and British force forming a triangle of about 7 kilometers on each side. And given their proximity, it's quite curious that when an aerial object was observed from one of the bases, it wasn't also spotted from the neighboring ones...

A recurring detail in the descriptions of these Antarctic phenomena is their ability to remain stationary for minutes and then launch into high speed, a behavior that defies any conventional explanation.

In July 1965, the media impact of this official acceptance by Argentina and Chile had a profound global impact. In its July 7 edition, the newspaper La Razón summarized the emotional climate of the moment and the projected expectations in a text full of intrigue and drama:

"It remains to be seen now—and the coming months, or perhaps just days, will tell—whether the communiqués from the Argentine Navy and the Chilean Air Force serve the purpose of 'jumping the gun' in a slow process and confronting 3 billion Earthlings with the now undeniable evidence that they are in the presence of visitors from other worlds, and that it is time to start thinking about a coordinated plan to make contact and control the situation after the exchange of the first message."

(*) The author is a writer and author of the book “UFOs of Antarctica”