Paysandú (Termas del Almirón) Lights, 2023

Background

The Termas del Almirón (Almirón hot springs) lie in the Paysandú department of western Uruguay. The sightings took place during the local festival held at the springs in February 2023. Uruguay has a formal channel for such reports: the Comisión Receptora e Investigadora de Denuncias de Objetos Voladores No Identificados (CRIDOVNI), which operates under the Uruguayan Air Force (FAU). Earlier Uruguayan reports had been handled through the same body, and the 2023 case is notable mainly because the FAU publicly announced its intervention within a day or two.

What witnesses reported

According to MercoPress, the lights were seen early on Saturday 11 February near the festival, and the regional outlet El Telégrafo, as cited by Montevideo Portal, reported that witnesses saw red lights flashing on and off at low altitude. The witness count differs by source: MercoPress quotes about 20 people, including the Almirón tourism director, while Montevideo Portal's version of El Telégrafo cites roughly twelve. Similar lights were reported the same week across the border in Entre Ríos, Argentina, and in several other Uruguayan departments.

The most specific claim came from Captain Carlos García, the National Defense chief at Paysandú airport, who said he saw four objects that local air traffic control had no record of. This is a single account and has not been corroborated in the sources read. El Telégrafo also reported that air traffic control had no record of aircraft in the area, a detail repeated by Vistazo.

Official response

The FAU said on the Saturday afternoon that it had arranged an intervention by CRIDOVNI. Public relations director Colonel Marcelo Lorenze said the committee would "open an investigation to try to determine the characteristics of the event." CRIDOVNI sent investigators to gather information and interview witnesses. CNN Chile reported that the inquiry was described as reserved, with a possible further statement if progress was made.

Status and assessment

No CRIDOVNI findings or follow-up communiqué were found in the sources reviewed, so the cause of the lights is unknown. Several factors make the case hard to resolve from the public record: the witness counts conflict, the descriptions are brief, no photographs or radar data have been published, and the flashing red lights at low altitude could be ordinary aircraft, drones, or lights from the festival itself. The case is notable because the Air Force announced its intervention publicly and within a day or two of the reports, which makes it a useful example of how Uruguay's reporting system handles such events. Credibility is rated contested because the reporting is limited to press accounts and the investigation has no published outcome.