By Francisco ChecchiUFO Press #11, April 1979During the first month of this year, two children from Santiago [Del Estero] lived through separate experiences that we shall describe below.A 10-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy, both residents of the province of Santiago del Estero, although in different communities, were witnesses to the activity of several humanoid beings of small stature and unusual appearance who allegedly piloted a no less astonishing rectangular craft.The event we will describe next took place on a Saturday, possibly 13 January, at 11:30 a.m. within a classroom in the primary school of the town of Loreto, where the boy’s father works as a porter.Marco Rafael Suarez, 12, was in a small classroom which contained, among other items, a kerosene-fueled cooler, a wooden table used as a desk, some chairs, tables, boxes with medicinal preparations, a tape recorder that was not working at the moment, and with the electrical system shut down.The boy was about to store a slice of melon in the cooler (at approximately 11:30 a.m.) when he heard a cardboard box full of newspapers fall to the ground. Upon turning around to see what had happened, he saw a strange rectangular machine, some 60 centimeters wide, one meter long and 1.40 meters tall, aluminum-colored and with a sort of black screen located in its upper front (like a TV screen), through which he could see what appeared to be a tank with wires added to it. Under the screen was a light, similar to a car’s headlights, and underneath it, some black vertical lines of equal length, spread out along the front of the “machine”.The object was hanging in the air some 20 cm over the ground, making a sound similar to that of an electric fan.Suddenly, two small doors located on both sides of the object opened upward and downward. A small humanoid being, standing some 80 centimeters tall and with dark complexion, emerged from the door located on the right flank. Some instants later, a being with a similar appearance exited through the opening on the left.Both humanoids were dressed in a sort of bright, black, one-piece coverall uniform. They wore helmets made of the same material, featuring a darker band, as though made of glass, over their features, at the level of their eyes. On their backs they carried what looked like “a soda bottle” with a device similar to a clock on its upper section. The entities’ bodies were proportional to their height.The being that exited on the left took the boy’s right arm. He noticed the being’s hand only had four fingers and tried to free himself from its grip, but the humanoid held fast while the witness heard a voice that appeared to come from the object, which ordered him in Spanish:(Sit down and don’t move). The small being, at that moment, compelled the witness to sit on a chair.While Marcos Suárez was unable to move, he remained aware and able to see everything that took place.The other humanoid approached the outer door to the room and headed to an adjacent room. At the same time, the being that held on to the boy entered the object and turned on the light, which issued a powerful beam of reddish light. It blinded the witness and caused his eyes to water.Unable to scream or move, the witness passed out.When he awoke, he was on the chair and had recovered movement. Rubbing his eyes, he saw that the “machine” and the beings were already gone, although the room was in a mess and there was a smell of sulfur that saturated the air. The door, which one of the beings had closed, now stood open.Marcos Rafael Suárez recovered from his initial confusion and, gripped by excitement, quickly abandoned the room, slipping and crashing to his knees in the attempt.The witness’s 8-year-old sister, intrigued by the noise, headed to the classroom and arrived just as the witness tried to stand up. The boy’s father arrived shortly after, seeing that the child’s face was congested and had acquired a strange purplish-red hue. Despite the fact that his son was visibly affected, nearly in shock, Mr. Suárez questioned him about what happened, securing from his son the narrative we have reproduced in these pages.The porter, aware of the young boy’s condition and fearing unsuspected side-effects, took him immediately to a local doctor, who gave him a check-up and prescribed sedatives.The witness’s father reported the strange event to the Loreto Constabulary, which also received reports from other locals stating that their fans and electric coolers had stopped working between 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., while transistor radios presented significant disturbances in their operation (static).Finally, we can add that the witness of the incident described herein was about to enter middle school, being a lively boy with an interest in sports magazines. He had good physical and mental health, was extremely religious (Catholic) and served an altar boy at the Loreto Church.A case with similar characteristics took place nearly two weeks after the Loreto incident, this time in the locality of El Deán, some 50 kilometers from the city of Santiago del Estero, the provincial seat, located on the road to Termas de Rio Hondo.On Thursday, 25 January at siesta time (between 2:00 and 4:00 pm), Marta Isabel Carbajal, 10, was playing with a 3-year-old boy in a pen somewhat distant from her parent’s house.Marta witnessed the slow descent of a metallic and rectangular craft, which landed in the shade of a large, leafy tree, suspended only a few centimeters over the ground.she said.Five more beings descended seconds later, smaller than the first ones. One of the humanoids, who appeared to lead the strange and incredible look, asked her to come closer in perfect Spanish, but she refused. The strange entity then activated a sort of flashlight fastened to its body, projecting a red beam that struck the witness directly in the eyes, blinding her and causing her to pass out. Following this moment, the witness only recalls that it saw how the two taller beings of the group entered the object, while the remaining ones were hoisted by a metallic arm, being introduced into the UFO seconds later. The object was still hovering only centimeters off the ground.Moments later, the object rose into the air and lost itself in the distance, making no sound whatsoever.The beings observed by Marta Isabel Carbajal were, in broad terms, very similar to the ones seen in Loreto: shiny black clothing, armbands covered brilliant orbs, black boots and elongated caps that covered their heads and faces. They bore cylindrical bundles on their backs and appeared to move by floating in the air, only centimeters over the ground.As the UFO departed, the girl ran to her grandparents’ house and nervously told them what had transpired. Her eyes were red and tearful, burning unbearably, so much so that she had to wash them with cold water.According to her relatives, the witness had never heard any discussions about “flying saucers”. It should also be noted that she is illiterate, thus discarding the possibility that her alleged sighting could have been influenced in some way by the Loreto incident.The similarities observed in these Santiago del Estero cases are astonishing and in a certain way, strange and disquieting. Even the conditions in which they have occurred are strange, knowing the trend for CE-1 events (landings or semi-landings) to take place at night, especially when the incident includes the sighting of alleged occupants.Another astonishing fact is similarity between the witnesses (young children from poor social backgrounds, although no less worthy of being believed).Finally, a loss of consciousness is present in both cases, resulting from an alleged “aggression” (beam of intense red light) by the phenomenon. One may wonder what purpose was served by denying the witnesses an awareness of the events? An answer to such a question may well be found through hypnotic regression, allowing the witnesses to re-create the events they experienced after having been struck and stunned by the reddish beam.Finally, the author would like to thank researcher Heriberto Janosch for the material requested about the Loreto incident and Dr. Juan Angel Gómez, who conducted the survey at the locality in question.