Section B · FAU Colonel · president of CRIDOVNI

Ariel Sánchez Ríos

Colonel (Naval Aviator, ret.) of the Uruguayan Air Force · president of CRIDOVNI (since 2008)

Biography

Colonel (naval aviator, retired) of the Uruguayan Air Force and, since 2008, president of CRIDOVNI (Commission for Receiving and Investigating Reports of Unidentified Flying Objects), the world's longest continuously running government UAP commission —active without interruption since 1979—. He is its public face and institutional voice: he advocates a methodological, air-sovereignty approach, and under his leadership CRIDOVNI has investigated more than 1,500 reports, of which about 3% are classified as 'non-conventional'. According to the commission itself, during his tenure the Uruguayan Air Force reached a preliminary cooperation agreement with the United States' AARO; no published US document confirms it. What is on record, in AARO emails obtained through FOIA (case 26-F-1773, published by The Black Vault in 2026), is that two CRIDOVNI representatives, their names redacted, attended AARO's UAP data workshop in August 2025 and met the office at the Pentagon on 4 August, with an hour set aside for 'future collaboration'. In those emails the Uruguayan delegation writes that it wants 'to establish a further working relationship' with AARO, and the office says it also invited Chile's SEFAA, which did not reply.

Documents

CRIDOVNI · FAU commission

CRIDOVNI (Commission for the Reception and Investigation of Reports of Unidentified Flying Objects) is the commission the Uruguayan Air Force created on 7 August 1979, under the Ministry of National Defence, and which has operated without interruption ever since. It receives reports, investigates them with military resources (radar, controllers, checks against known traffic and weather data) and classifies them, with an explicit category for "non-conventional" cases. According to the commission's own figures as reported by the Uruguayan press, of some 1,570 reports between 1979 and 2021, 47 (about 3%) ended up in that category; the rest received a conventional explanation. The commission makes no statement on the nature of the phenomenon, and its cooperation with the US AARO stands only as reported.

view source

AARO FOIA records 26-F-1773 · UAP data workshop and meeting with CRIDOVNI (August 2025)

A 92-page PDF AARO released through FOIA to The Black Vault (case 26-F-1773, requested 17 March 2026). It contains the emails in which the office arranges the trip of two CRIDOVNI representatives, the agenda of the 4 August 2025 meeting at the Pentagon (CRIDOVNI briefing, AARO briefing and an hour on 'future collaboration') and the workshop attendee list, which shows 'CRIDOVNI (Uruguay)' twice and an 'Australian Government'. Names are redacted and 19 pages were withheld in full. It contains no signed cooperation agreement. A US government document; The Black Vault's copy is linked.

All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), vía The Black Vault · view source

Why they're here · 3 pieces

  1. 2008

    Presidencia de la CRIDOVNI

    Leads the Uruguayan official commission with a methodological approach and institutional continuity

  2. 2023

    Acuerdo de cooperación FAU–AARO

    Preliminary agreement with the US UAP office, according to the commission itself (no published US document)

  3. 2025

    Reunión CRIDOVNI–AARO en el Pentágono y taller de datos UAP

    Two CRIDOVNI representatives brief AARO on 4 August and attend the 5–6 August workshop (FOIA records 26-F-1773)

Sources

Contributes a theoretical framework, with no specific case in the archive.

Biography summarized from public sources, classified by section (A-F).