Ruben Uriarte

Early Career and Education

Ruben Jose Uriarte holds a B.A. in Psychology and Latin American Studies from California State University at Hayward and has undertaken M.A. coursework in Public Administration. His dual expertise in psychology and Latin American affairs positioned him uniquely to investigate UFO phenomena in the southwestern United States and Mexico—a region historically underrepresented in English-language UFO research.

MUFON Leadership and Investigation

Uriarte has been an active member of the Mutual UFO Network for over 20 years, serving as State Director for Northern California and Deputy Director of Investigations and International Affairs. In these roles, he established and leads MUFON's official liaison to Mexico's OMIFO (Organización para la Investigación de Fenómenos Extraños), effectively bridging civilian UFO research across international borders. He served as coordinator for Crop Circle Phenomena Research International and research director for Beyond Boundaries, a company specializing in UFO tourism to historical hotspots. He also sits on the board of OPUS (Organization for Paranormal Support Understanding).

Southwestern Border Research Focus

Uriarte's primary research concentration is the chain of UFO crash-retrieval incidents along the Texas-Mexico border during the Cold War era, with particular emphasis on the August 1974 Chihuahua (Coyame) incident—a case he argues rivals Roswell in significance. He documents the mid-air collision between a small aircraft and an unidentified flying object near Presidio, Texas, whose flaming wreckage fell into the Mexican desert. According to Uriarte's research, both American and Mexican military forces rapidly mobilized to recover the fallen craft, suggesting high-level governmental awareness of and response to the event. His investigations focus on declassified documents, witness testimony from both sides of the border, and the coordinated cover-up efforts that followed.

Published Works and Media Prominence

Working in close collaboration with fellow researcher Noe Torres, Uriarte has authored four definitive works on southwestern UFO incidents: Mexico's Roswell: The Chihuahua UFO Crash (with a foreword by Stanton T. Friedman), The Other Roswell: UFO Crash on the Texas-Mexico Border, Aliens in the Forest: The Cisco Grove UFO Encounter, and The Coyame Incident: UFO Crash Near Presidio, Texas. These publications have been adapted for major television documentaries, including episodes of the History Channel's "UFO Files" and "UFO Hunters," Discovery Channel's "UFOs Over Earth," and appearances on Coast to Coast AM. His work received significant validation through the 2005 History Channel documentary Mexico's Roswell, which elevated the Chihuahua crash case to national prominence.

Significance and Credibility

Uriarte represents a critical bridge between American civilian UFO research networks and Mexican counterparts, addressing a geographic and institutional gap in UFO documentation. His approach combines archival research, witness interviews, and organizational rigor through MUFON's investigative framework. By focusing on the US-Mexico border, he challenges the assumption that major crash-retrieval incidents are concentrated in the American Southwest; his research suggests coordinated international military response to such events.