Documents / Official release
This Clinton Presidential Library folder of NSC cables, filed under "Flying Saucer or UFO" and covering January to September 1997, holds several cables plus a withdrawal sheet listing three redacted items. A Tel Aviv embassy media report notes an Israeli cartoon about a January 5 UFO alert. An FBIS translation reports that a Colombian helicopter landed in Rubio, Venezuela, prompting UFO speculation. A DoD briefing transcript quotes Kenneth Bacon saying a CIA study found no evidence of UFOs, and an FBIS summary covers Cuban radio claims about the 1947 New Mexico crash.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
Colombian, landed in the "Leonardo Alarcon" sports stadium. This caused great alarm among the city's residents. Despite that both government and military authorities in Tachira were notified, no official information has yet been given to clarify the confusion, to the point that there has even been speculation that it could be "a UFO." General (National Guard) Gerardo Briceno Garcia, chief of Regional Command No.1, reported that the situation was being handled directly through the Ministry of Defense. He added that he could not provide exact information about the Colombian helicopter landing. According to witnesses in Rubio, "the pilot was lost because when he landed he asked if he was in the city of Cucuta." Investigation Requested [subhead] Tachira Deputy Walter Marquez said that the violation of Venezuelan air space and sovereignty represent a rather serious situation. He suggested that both civil aeronautics and military aviation from the Palo Alto and Santo Domingo air bases should offer information on the incident. "Investigations should also take place on the circumstances in which these events took place, whether this was accidental or if there was an intentional violation to Venezuelan sovereignty. The same way a helicopter comes in unchallenged and without being noticed by our country's radar, anything could happen in the future and corrective measures should be taken," Marquez said. The congressman insisted that he will request that an investigation be initiated with the Foreign Policy Commission to clarify the events in order to apply whatever corrective measures need to be taken. THIS REPORT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION IS PROHIBITED WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS. (endall) 4 Mar tc/ (b)(3) /eb drive0503.08e 06/0334z mar SECT: SECTION: 01 OF 01 SSN: 7776 TOR: 970306011919 M2651241 DIST: SIT: NSC
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 48 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.