Source: PLANETA UFO and Urgente 24
Date: 01.28.2016
Argentina: CEFAE - Ten UFO Cases Studied by the Kirchner Administration
During the four years in which the Comisión para el Estudio de Fenómenos Aeroespaciales (CEFAE) was in operation - announced with great fanfare by former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner - little was known about its operation and financing. A 12-page PDF file containing 10 sightings reports was presented in December 2015: The Kirchnerian "Blue Book".
The administration of Christina Kirchner created a Commission for the Study of Aerospace Phenomena (CEFAE, in Spanish) attached to the Argentinean Air Force. After four years without official information, almost everything about the project is a mystery, especially the expenses it caused when the commission itself is practically defunct.
A group of researchers representing the State was formed in mid-2011 to approach the UFO phenomenon in a scientific manner. For the first time, and at the official level, there was talk of the need to study the growing number of unidentified flying object sightings in the national airspace, representing an interesting news item if nothing else, taking into consideration [Argentina's] scant history in this field. The announcement, made with great fanfare, promised that the commission would be comprised by experts from the National Weather Service, engineers, pilots, radar technicians, computer experts and geologists. An army of specialists from whom no further word was heard.
Captain Mariano Mohaupt was CEFAE's first director - a man of terse words whose tenure was brief. He was replaced by Commodore Guillermo Aloi and then by Rubén Lianza, a retired AAF officer. The fact is that faced with the paucity of news interviews granted by the members of that strange commission, questions increased among the fans and followers of the phenomenon. What did they do? Why had they not presented any documents analyzing photographs, eyewitness accounts or videos? What were they looking for, and with what funding?
The first CEFAE report was finally published in December 2015 after 54 months of mystery and not presenting the slightest evidence of work or activity. The thin, 12-page PDF, lacking anyone's signature, offers the end result: 10 cases studied in over 4 years, sightings from November 2014 to November 2015. No explanation was offered for what they did during all the previous years. The report appeared, by chance, at the end of the Kirchner Administration. As an example, the U.S. Project Blue Book covered 12,618 cases for the years between 1947 and 1969, when the project ended.
The Commission
The Comisión de Estudio de Fenómenos Aeroespaciales was created by Resolution No. 414/2011 of the Chief of staff of the Argentinean Air Force in order to organize, coordinate, and execute a methodical investigation of the possible causes for Unidentified Flying Objects specifically reported within Argentinean air space, publishing the results of those cases for which a certain and exact conclusion had been reached.
It consisted of permanent staff members of the Argentinean Air Force and specialists of proven experience in different fields of research, offering invaluable support in the analysis of each case from different perspectives.
In order to reach certain and exact conclusions, having truthful information that accurately describes the phenomenon witnessed is essential. The Commission has an office in Retiro, where it welcomes citizens who wish to submit their cases.
The Cases
The report published in December accounts for the 10 cases mentioned, accompanied by explanatory photos and screen caps from an astronomy software package.
Explanations for the cases mostly involve known objects in the sky, such as stars, planets or the moon itself; aircraft photographed at a distance; birds, and even a ball thrown into the air.
The report can be seen (in Spanish) at: http://www.faa.mil.ar/mision/informe_cefae_2015.pdf
[Translation (c) 2016 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Guillermo Giménez, Planeta UFO]