Dique La Florida close encounter (1978)

Background

Dique La Florida is a reservoir near the city of San Luis in western Argentina. In the late 1970s Argentina saw a steady flow of UFO reports, several of which later became cases in Argentine ufology. The Dique La Florida case, dated 4 February 1978, is one of the best-known close encounters in the country's literature. It is described mainly through press accounts and ufology blogs, and only secondhand through a declassified document, so the framing below separates what the sources say from what they can confirm.

The reported encounter

According to Canal 26, six fishermen were at the reservoir in the early morning. They reported a metallic, plate-shaped object about 15 metres across that descended slowly and hovered a few metres above the ground. A being of human appearance with blond hair came out and moved across the ground toward the lakeshore, a few metres from the men, and raised its hands in what the witnesses took as a friendly gesture. It then returned to the craft, which lifted off and left a luminous trail.

A Colombia.com account gives a more detailed description: a silver suit, a face covered by a glass-like sphere, a height of about two metres, and a ladder lowered from the craft. Its timing is about 4:15 a.m. An Inexplicata post, which cites a transcription of an official document, puts it at about 4:45. The sources disagree on these details, and the more elaborate description appears only in the later and less sourced accounts.

Investigation and records

The San Luis provincial police and the federal police reportedly took testimony and examined the ground. No radiation was detected and no conclusive physical traces were found, according to Canal 26. Inexplicata attributes the report to Lt. Col. Raúl Benjamín López. Colombia.com adds that a V Brigada Aérea officer, Major Alberto Iannariello, also saw manifestations, but this appears only in that source.

Argentine researcher Virgilio Sánchez Ocejo is credited with recovering the file. Canal 26 says a declassified document showed that the report was sent to the US government, and it presents this as the first written evidence that Argentine UFO reports were forwarded to the United States. Canal 26 also says it is not known which US agency received the reports. The Inexplicata post credits the ONIFE group and researcher Fabio Zerpa with an in-depth study, and it places the case in the CE-3 (close encounter of the third kind) category.

Assessment

The core claim, that six people reported a craft and an occupant, rests on witness testimony. The most vivid details, such as the blond hair, the glass-sphere face, and the ladder, appear only in media and blog sources, and no primary report was read for this entry. Nothing in the surviving public material proves an encounter occurred, and the declassified document has not been quoted or published in a form that can be checked. The case should be treated as an unverified, if well-documented in Argentine ufology, close encounter report. Its main significance is the claim that Argentine UFO reports reached US records, which has not been independently confirmed.

Current status

The case is still cited in Argentine and Spanish-language ufology. The best verification would come from a February 1978 San Luis or Buenos Aires newspaper report and the police or air-force file itself. Neither was accessible for this entry.