Policemen and UFOs in Cordoba

July 21, 2002 could have been any other day in the locality of Rio Cuarto, Argentina. Reports of poaching or less significant matters might have occupied the time of the policemen stationed in the villages of Achiras, Chaján and Las Albahacas. But the reported sighting of a strange light by one of the squad cars, and the radio communications with its sister units, turned into a multiple sighting that involved several police officers and civilians.

In the company of Paco Martinez, Patricio Parente and Javier Ferraroto, we decided to travel to the area to gather first-hand accounts from the main witnesses to the phenomenon. Our first destination was Achiras, located 70 kilometers west of Rio Cuarto, where we obtained the main narratives.

Officer Barrio is assigned to Achiras. That night he was driving along the road that links this locality to Rio Cuarto. Accompanying him was Franco Biasi, chief of the Achiras Fire Department. As they crossed the wilderness known as Cuatro Vientos, they noticed something that broke the landscape’s monotony. “It was a light far bigger than a star, and a lot closer. I saw the light moving at high speed and then remaining still,” Barrios described the first movements of the sighting. “Then it “ran” again and moved upward, returning to its point of departure. Then it reversed itself. It did this three times,” said the policeman.