Life on Mars?

Capilla del Monte (Argentina): Is there life on Mars? Sounds cliché, huh? And, UFOs?? Ohhhh No!!!!! Alright, but those were the topics of discussions at the 17th International Ufology Congress held in Capilla del Monte, an Argentine city located 800 km west of Buenos Aires.

UFO researchers addressed such big questions as whether there is life on Mars and "invisible" beings at the four-day gathering, which ended Sunday.

The gathering drew Argentine and foreign UFO researchers who discussed progress in their work, personal experiences and audiovisual records of contacts with alien spacecraft with the nearly 200 aficionados who attended the congress.

"We fulfilled the objective of demystifying Mars and showing that we may be closer than we think," congress organiser Luz Mary Lopez told Spanish news agency Efe.

Attendees were shocked by some revelations, including those of Americans Andrew Basiago and Laura Eisenhower.

Basiago, who participated in the conference, and Eisenhower, who made her presentation via Skype teleconference, said they were chosen by the government to be tele-transported on secret missions to Mars.

"I was on Mars 40 times and there is Martian and human life there," Basiago said during a two-hour presentation to an auditorium packed with people who were a mix of the mesmerised, the sceptical and the excited.

"It gave me chills, but they hide so much from us, I believe it could be true. I've seen UFOs and I believe that scientists tell people almost nothing," a woman from Cordoba who identified herself only as Mabel told Efe.

Fernando Correa, a Mexican astronomer and reporter on the "Tercer Milenio" television show, supported Basiago's story.

"There is evidence that we are already on the Red Planet, such as a Google Mars site that shows a human base there," Correa told Efe.

The Mexican scientist hosted one of the closing talks, screening security-camera videos that showed supposed "invisible" beings and "shadows" from around the world.

"Today, you have to try to explain with science the so-called paranormal phenomena that, in reality, are more normal than the rest," Correa said.

Argentine researchers also made presentations at the conference.

Silvia Simondini, who runs the Vision Ovni (UFO Vision) centre in Victoria, a city located 200 km from Buenos Aires, discussed analyses done of spaceship fragments, local stories about alien spacecraft and collective UFO sightings across Argentina.

The curious of all ages from across this South American country attended the congress.