Argentina: "Cerrillos Is an Alien Base" - A Widespread Belief in the 80s

Source: PLANETA UFO and El Tribuno
Date: 07.13.2019
Article by Daniel Díaz

Argentina: "Cerrillos Is an Alien Base" - A Belief Held in the 80s

In those days, a group of youngsters claimed seeing small, green and bald entities descending form a UFO before vanishing amid the tobacco plants.

Stories about aliens that prevailed in the Western World in the late '70s and early '80s also included a location in Salta. In the spring of 1979, Cerrillos experienced a wave of paranoia arising from a series of reports that alleged the presence of extraterrestrial beings in some tobacco plantations.

Those with good memories will recall the talk - at the domestic and international level - regarding the arrival of small green entities who had claimed Valle de Lerma as their base of operations. This news was circulated by some children who claimed seeing an alien spaceship landing in a field, from their vantage point on the train tracks behind Barrio Antártida Argentina and only a few blocks from the main square.

Terrified, it wasn't long before the kids told their story and the news made its way to the local press through the work of a journalist on the other side of the Andes. After it appeared in EL TRIBUNO, the story quickly appeared in the country's main magazines and dailies.

The strange event was also fostered by the opening of Ridley Scott's "Alien" and a series of movies with an extraterrestrial subject, which was popular at the time, such as Steven Spielberg's "ET".

The media 'bounce' was such that days later, hundreds of reports were coming in from residents of rural areas in Corrientes, Buenos Aires and Mendoza, reporting the presence of diminutive beings, similar to those in Cerrillos. It was an anxious time for many locals. Parents told their children to be home before nightfall, out of safety concerns, and what had hitherto been a lonesome tobacco plantation on the way to Barrufet became the focus of study of curiosity-seekers and scientists who combed the place in search of clues or remnants from outer space.

Rumors concerning the presence of little green men in the town multiplied, as well as the stories told by adults and children alike. There were those who - clad in alien costumes - hid among the bushes to frighten people and promote the myth. There was even a report filed with the local police constabulary (UOP 13) by a resident of Necochea Street, claiming that his cocker spaniel had been abducted by aliens. He even claimed witnessing the event. Over time, paranoia dissipated until it vanished altogether. However, the mark left by Cerrillos in the history of CE-3s will endure forever.

Aliens and Rock and Roll

As it appears in the biography of the rock band Los Enanitos Verdes (The Little Green Men), their name was due to the alleged presence of aliens in Mendoza. In late 1979, a family of tourists developed a photograph taken at Puente del Inca which allegedly showed an alien.

Descriptions of strange entities in various parts of the country matched the Cerrillos reports exactly, which had been made known beforehand. Local newspapers promoted the story, and it was even said that the photograph was sent to NASA to ascertain its authenticity. The stories had such an impact on Mendozan society that at a photojournalist friend of Marciano Cantero, leader of the legendary rock group, bestowed the name Los Enanitos Verdes del Puente del Inca on the group, subsequently shortened to Los Enanitos Verdes.

"We Put a Research Team Together"

Journalist and author Fabio Pérez Paz, a resident of Cerrillos at the time, remembers: "News about the arrival of aliens near the train tracks caused uproar in Cerrillos. I was still a kid. I remember we put a research team together to find the aliens, it would have made NASA jealous."

The author of the "El Duende Amigo" series explained: "The group was formed by boys from the Rangeón, Caro, Figueroa, Díaz, Pérez Paz, Vaduna, Berruezo, Ahanduni, Rico, Arias, Aramayo and Saravia families, among others. We covered the town's train tracks from end to end. Every oil spot or piece of metal was - to us - undeniable evidence of a UFO landing. At one time we saw another group of kids running in fear from the Pueblo Nuevo area, shouting: "ahí vienen los marcianos...los enanitos verdes" (here come the martians, the little green men)." Fear got the better of us in the end and we ran like hell back to our neighborhood. Research ended there. We didn't see aliens, but there was irrefutable evidence that is still marked on the Cerrillos train tracks."

Illustration Credit: El Tribuno

[Translation (c) 2019 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Daniel Diaz (El Tribuno) and Guillermo Giménez (Planeta UFO)