Dique La Florida Close Encounter
One of the most significant UFO events of the Republic of Argentina took place on February 4, 1978, when several competent witnesses witnessed the descent of a strange craft and the presence of a tall humanoid who left his prints on the ground.The research undertaken after this event determined its reality, and corroborated the footprints left behind by the occupant.
This incident, known around the world as the Dique La Florida Case, in San Luis, Argentina, was supported by the investigative facilities of the Provincial Police of San Luis, headed at the time by lieutenant colonel Raul Benjamin Lopez, who signed off on the first official report on a walkabout by a UFO occupant, representing both the Provincial Police & the Argentinean Army.
On the night of the event, Genaro & Pedro Sosa, along with Regino Perroni & Jacinto Lucero, had gone to buy meat for a cookout.
They went to the Mede butcher shop in the city of San Luis, where they purchased 8 pounds of meat and sausages, enough for the 6 friends who wanted to go fishing at Lake La Florida.
They always fish together at various locations in the region.
The 6 men are fishing buddies, even though their families do not socialize.
Perroni & Lucero are in-laws, the second is married to Perroni's sister, they live together in the Cantisan district near Genaro & Pedro Sosa's home.
The 4 men boarded Genaro Sosa's Fiat 125 and went off to find Ramón Sosa, who lives at 105 Calle Mitre, and finally picked up Manuel Maria Alvarez around 11:00 p.m.
They drove along Route 20, exchanging very few words.
They looked at the lovely starlit sky and the landscape of the area, darkened by the lights in the sky.
They reached the La Florida Nautical and Fishing Club, 24 miles distant from the city.
When they arrived, the fire prepared by Rodriguez, the club steward, was nearly ready, as he had done some empanadas earlier.
Alvarez, the Paraguayan, started to prepare the roast, having learned to do so in his adopted country, as he came from Paraguay to Argentina when he was 5 years old, becoming a naturalized citizen.
The other men helped their friend, talking, swapping remarks, telling jokes.
The roast was ready within 90 minutes.
The 6 men consume a scant liter of wine between them, none of them likes alcohol.
Between 12:30 a.m. & 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, the men were in the lake fishing.
With Perroni's boat holding the 6 men and their fishing tackle, they headed into the lake's waters.
They wanted to go South, rowing with a northerly wind, at a depth of 150'.
The waves were considerable, and when they reached an inlet on the other side of the Fishing Club, they decided to return to the lake to fish with more peace.
They began fishing at around 2:10 a.m.
The men had boarded another boat belonging to a friend, the fish were not biting, so bored and tired from a long week's work, Genaro & Ramón Sosa, along with Jacinto Lucero, went to sleep some 15' from the boat's deck at 3:30 a.m., leaving Alvarez & Pedro Sosa leaning against the railings.
Both are avid fishermen, long-time friends, and always fish together.
Perroni was somewhat farther behind the other 2, standing next to the boat's engine, speaking softly so as not to scare the fish.
He sees the 3 friends getting ready to sleep, covering themselves with coats, as it was a cold evening, 14° to 16° C.
The 3 fishermen who remained awake struggled against the denizens of the water, retrieving 2 Silversides and 8 carp.
At 4:15 a.m., Perroni saw something flying in front of the Moon.
Genaro woke up at his friend's, both thought it was a shooting star, like countless ones they had seen so often, but nonetheless striking.
After exchanging a few words, Genaro Sosa went back to sleep, covering himself well, as he felt very cold.
Alvarez & Pedro Sosa remained at their stations, fishing.
At 4:45 a.m., an intense light appeared behind the vessel, emanating from a small hill some 60' distant.
It was strong enough to make Perroni cover his face, and make the 3 sleeping men wake up.
Alvarez & Pedro Sosa turned around to face an unusual event, they were illuminated by a powerful light, seeing it was an unidentified flying object, a metallic, solid device shaped like an upside-down saucer, projecting white light from its under section and emerald green & red lights from its upper fuselage.
It was suspended in mid air over the sloping terrain leading to the water, some 10' over the ground, measuring some 45' in diameter.
The object let down a small ladder, similar to that on a Fokker aircraft, and a humanoid form descended.
It stood between 6' and 7', wore a shiny, silvery, form fitting uniform.
The man wore a transparent helmet over his head, making visible his blonde hair and fine features.
At no time did the witnesses see the entity's feet, and were unsure as to any footgear.
The entity's identikit photo matches all descriptions provided.
After descending the ladder, the entity walked over the terrain (or glided over it, not sure, which sloped downward and approached the edge of the lake, a scant 15 meters away from the fishermen.
With as mile, the stranger placed his gloved hands, encased in what appeared to be mittens, in front of him, palms upward, in a characteristic friendship gesture and a yoga position, lotus flower.
A universal gesture of giving. Following this gesture, the being turned on a heel and headed for the ladder.
He climbed and re-entered the craft.
The ladder retracted, and the opening that allowed it to descend to Earth closed up.
After 20 or 30 seconds, the vehicle rose into the air and vanished into the mountains of San Luis toward the northeast.
Pedro Sosa, shocked by what he was seeing, saw much less of the humanoid than did Alvarez, who is the most descriptive of the witnesses.
Regarding the object, the witnesses differ on its luminous characteristics, but all agree on the powerful light behind them.
To Genaro Sosa, the object had a yellowish aura, Ramon Sosa believes it was a fluorescent light, Pedro Sosa thinks it had various colors rotating around it.
Jacinto Lucero remembers it as a very bright white light, To Alvarez & Sosa, the object left a luminous wake in its path.
All agree on the circular shape.
The 3 sleeping fishermen were shaken out of their slumber by the event, the other 3 described it as an inverted soup bowl with a sort of aileron or ring in the middle, which left a luminous wake in its path as it sped away, forming a white halo around it as it vanished toward the San Luis mountains.
All men agree that the UFO, at a 45° angle to the horizon, made a half loop before vanishing.
It did not vanish from sight, rather it disappeared altogether, leaving behind a luminous white circle that widened gradually before going away.
This remark gave us pause, was it a time travel opening? An opening to other dimensions?
An intrusion into the mountains of the area?
Questions that were to be meditated upon.
It was all over, the men on the boat exchanged startled looks, all thought it was a flying saucer.
When we suggested it might be a secret terrestrial craft, flown by an unknown astronaut, they looked at us quizzically, all of them firmly believe they saw the anomalous event we come to describe as UFO.