Organization · 7 August 1979 · CRIDOVNI office, Colonia 959 and Río Branco, Montevideo, Uruguay
CRIDOVNI (Uruguayan Air Force)
Also known as CRIDOVNI, Cridovni, Comisión Receptora e Investigadora de Denuncias de Objetos Voladores No Identificados
CRIDOVNI (Comisión Receptora e Investigadora de Denuncias de Objetos Voladores No Identificados) is the Uruguayan Air Force's commission for receiving and investigating reports of unidentified flying objects. The Air Force dates it to 7 August 1979, which makes it one of the oldest official UFO offices still working. The Air Force's organisational decree places it among the bodies that report directly to the Commander-in-Chief. Its public office was in central Montevideo.
Most of what it publishes is explanations. Its communiqués have identified a UFO on a live broadcast as an Austral airliner (2018) and lights over the country as Starlink satellites (2020, 2023). It also declared viral 2021 videos of a UFO and U.S. aircraft in Maldonado unreal. Its members have said publicly that a few per cent of cases stay unexplained, among them two in which Air Force aircraft tried and failed to intercept luminous spheres. Those are their own statements; no case file has been published.
Col. (ret.) Ariel Sánchez, its president in 2023, described it at the 2013 Citizen Hearing. In 2026 the Air Force announced workshops with the U.S. AARO through CRIDOVNI and said the commission was being reorganised.
Sources: Fuerza Aérea Uruguaya, CRIDOVNI page, anniversaries page, organisational decree, communiqués 34/2018, 4/2020, 46/2020, 1/2023, 4/2023 and news of 31 July 2026 (fau.mil.uy) · Montevideo Portal (2010, 2021) · Citizen Hearing on Disclosure (2013)
Facts and claims
- documented The Uruguayan Air Force dates the commission to 7 August 1979 and describes it as carrying out the reception, analysis and evaluation of reports of unidentified aerospace phenomena ("desarrolla tareas de recepción, análisis y evaluación de denuncias relacionadas con fenómenos aeroespaciales no identificados"). Source: fau.mil.uy (archived)
- documented The decree approving the Air Force's organisational structure, published by the FAU as its organigram, lists the "Comisión Receptora de Denuncias de Objetos Voladores No Identificados (CRIDOVNI)" among the bodies of the General Headquarters that report directly to the Air Force's Commander-in-Chief. Source: fau.mil.uy (archived)
- documented In April 2018 the commission identified a UFO seen on a live broadcast by Canal 30 Punta Cable from Punta del Este as Austral flight AUT2346, an Embraer 190 landing at Laguna del Sauce airport. Source: fau.mil.uy (archived)
- documented In January and May 2020 it told the public that columns of lights reported over Uruguay were Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX. Source: fau.mil.uy (archived)
- documented In August 2021, asked about viral videos of a UFO, U.S. aircraft and U.S. scientists at Parque del Jagüel, Maldonado, the commission concluded that the events "no son reales"; the videos, one of them made to look like a Subrayado news flash, were part of an advertising teaser campaign. Source: montevideo.com.uy (archived)
- documented After deploying investigators to Termas de Almirón, Paysandú, in February 2023, it concluded that the lights seen there and from Paysandú airport on 11 February 2023 were the passage of Starlink satellites, as were other lights reported around the country from 10 to 13 February. The communiqué is signed by its president, Col. (ret.) Ariel Sánchez, and its secretary, Capt. (ret.) Marcos Temesio. Source: fau.mil.uy (archived)
- documented In July 2010 its report on photographs of an object over Montevideo during the national football team's homecoming parade rated the probability of a conventional phenomenon at 97% (airborne nylon, paper or cloth lifted by rising air currents) and of a non-conventional one at 3%. Source: montevideo.com.uy (archived)
- claimed Lt. Daniel Silvera, a member, told Montevideo Portal in November 2010 that the commission had received 2,200 reports since its creation, of which 1,204 merited investigation; 70% were closed once explained, 27% were on stand-by awaiting new data, and 3%, about forty cases, remained unresolved. He said it has no budget of its own and uses the Air Force's radars, meteorological data and laboratories. Source: montevideo.com.uy (archived)
- claimed Silvera said the two most important Uruguayan cases were experienced by the Air Force itself: aircraft came into visual contact with luminous spheres and tried without success to intercept them; despite much information, no definitive conclusion about their nature had been reached. Source: montevideo.com.uy (archived)
- claimed Col. Ariel Sánchez told the 2013 Citizen Hearing that the commission had about 1,300 cases over some 30 years, with “3% of cases that have non-conventional characteristics”. — Ariel Sánchez Ríos Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: South American Encounters, Part 1 at 32:02
- documented On 31 July 2026 the Air Force announced that, through CRIDOVNI, it had held working meetings and technical workshops with AARO of the U.S. Department of War on methods of case analysis and procedures for ruling out conventional phenomena, and that Uruguay had been put forward as a possible host of a South American regional workshop. Source: fau.mil.uy (archived)
- documented The Air Force's CRIDOVNI page (updated September 2026) says the commission is being reorganised and a new commission formed ("se encuentra en proceso de reorganización y conformación de una nueva Comisión"). Source: fau.mil.uy (archived)
Connected files
Programs
- All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (works with) — Through CRIDOVNI the Uruguayan Air Force held working meetings and technical workshops with AARO, announced 31 July 2026
Hearings & briefings
- Citizen Hearing on Disclosure (discussed at) — Col. Ariel Sánchez described the commission to the 2013 Citizen Hearing
People
- Ariel Sánchez Ríos (led by) — Signed CRIDOVNI's communiqué 4/2023 as "Presidente de la CRIDOVNI"
Videos
- Citizen Hearing 2013: South American Encounters, Part 1 (discussed in)
More organizations
- CEFAE (Argentine Air Force)
- CEFAA (Chile)
- GEIPAN (CNES, France)
- Indo-Tibetan Border Police
- Ministry of Defense (Japan)
- Ministry of Defence (UK)