Three Latin American countries independently built formal government UAP investigation programmes decades before the United States established AARO. Chile’s history dates to 1968. Brazil ran a classified military field investigation in 1977 that documented physical injuries and produced hundreds of pages of classified evidence. Uruguay stood up a permanent commission in 1979 that still operates today. All three were doing this while the US government was officially claiming UAP were not worth investigating.
The Timeline
- 1968 — Chile: Coronel Bravo sends first UAP reporting circular to 43 aviation installations. Chilean reports go to the Condon Commission.
- 1969 — US: Project Blue Book closed. Official US position: UAP not worth investigating.
- 1977 — Brazil: Operation Saucer launched. Military investigators document mass UAP encounters and physical injuries in the Amazon. Files classified.
- 1977 — France: GEPAN founded under CNES.
- 1978 — Italy: PM Andreotti designates Air Force as official OVNI investigation body.
- 1979 — Uruguay: CRIDOVNI established under Air Force.
- 1997 — Chile: CEFAA (later SEFAA) established permanently.
- 2022 — US: AARO established.
- 2026 — US: PURSUE launches.
The Oracle Assessment
The US narrative treats PURSUE as unprecedented. In the global context, it is overdue. Multiple countries — France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay — built formal UAP investigation and transparency programmes decades before the US had any equivalent. The only thing unprecedented about PURSUE is its scale and the political profile of the government directing it. The underlying institutional function has been normal in much of the world since the 1970s.
Sources: sefaa.dgac.gob.cl. Arquivo Nacional, Brazil. Fuerza Aerea Uruguaya (CRIDOVNI). GEPAN/GEIPAN France. Aeronautica Militare, Italy. Forsvaret, Denmark. Ministerio de Defensa, Spain.