Tampico Alien Sightings: Mystery of the Amupac Underwater Base

Mexico’s Own Area 51? The Mystery of Amupac and the Tampico Alien

Name	Tampico Alien Sightings
Occurred on	August 7, 1967
Seen by	Multiple witnesses
Investigated by	Asociación de Investigación Científica Ovni de Tamaulipas

Whenever news of hurricanes comes, religious people run to their gods for protection, others brace and prepare for the impact, and leaders organize measures to reduce damage.

For the residents of Tampico, Mexico, however, they have become rather indifferent to such disasters, not because they’re the closest to God or because they have the most competent leaders. Instead, it’s because they believe aliens are protecting them.

What started as the Tampico alien sightings endured for decades and became the city’s most enduring and celebrated belief. This article will give you a comprehensive introduction to the whole case, and to do so, we’ll delve into two separate segments of the folklore:

1. The Tampico alien sightings
2. The Amupac base that stemmed from those events

Where Is Tampico, and Why Is It Special?

Nestled in southeast Tamaulipas, Tampico is a port city snug on Mexico’s Gulf Coast. It houses 300,000 residents, most of whom believe they’re under the mercy of extraterrestrial beings.

The city is among Mexico’s cities with the richest history, shaped by invasion. From the Spanish and French conquests to the U.S. invasion, Tampico has long been subjected to occupation, to the point that such events have become familiar to its residents.

However, by August 6, 1967, they would experience an invasion unlike any other—one from the most surprising conqueror: unidentified flying objects.

This so-called invasion or Tampico alien sightings would continue until August 8, leading to the birth of the city’s unusual belief.

What Are the Tampico Alien Sightings?

On August 6, 1967, several residents from Tampico and Ciudad Madero reported seeing a fleet of UFOs flying across the cities’ skies before allegedly disappearing out to sea.

This event was corroborated by not only the casual witnesses but also by multiple airport officers, who had documented and observed it from the local control tower.

Controller Jose Castillo detailed what he saw in his logbook:

Nine unidentified flying objects were seen. They were luminous and left a bright trail. Sometimes, a pale green, phosphorescent color could be seen behind the objects. It was confirmed that they were not flying machines or of earthly origin.

Captain Rogelio Pier supported this by saying that he was sure it was not “a fleet or airplanes built by humans” but were precisely unidentified flying objects.

From another perspective, Ernesto Mendiolo, a night shift worker at a local refinery, also claimed to have observed the same event. However, he showed more familiarity in his statement, sharing that he had been seeing the same objects for three months, which appeared over the refinery and then disappeared off Miramar.

These reports would begin the city’s enduring association with the extraterrestrial.

Headline: Platillos Voladores Sobre Tampico

Translation: Flying Saucers Over Tampico

Immediately the following day, the local newspaper, El Sol de Tampico, ran a story headlined, Platillos Voladores Sobre Tampico. It quoted local police officers who claimed they had seen nine unidentified objects, and highlighted how this occurred moments before a hurricane.

While this detail could have been written simply for its coincidence, it would be remarkable enough that the residents would soon hyperfocus on it.

Years later, this headline marked not only the first official documentation of a UFO event, but also the beginning of when the area would consider itself “miraculously” spared by hurricanes—the birth of the Amupac story.

What Is the Amupac Underwater Base?

The Tampico region had been a hurricane hotspot. In fact, in October 1966, Hurricane Inez had just ravaged through the area, leaving damage like no other and a death toll of 74 people.

However, since the Tampico alien sightings, not a single storm has seriously affected the city, and the residents didn’t take long to connect this absence with the UFO’s appearance.

It’s hard to pin down the exact origin of the Amupac story.

Ufologist Jaime Maussan believed it started around 1970 when an American tourist claimed to have been abducted and taken to an extraterrestrial city beneath the Gulf.

Another assumption was that a story began circulating among fishermen and oil workers, alleging that a group of 10-foot, light-skinned aliens came with the sighted objects and buried meter-long aluminum, copper alloy, and iron bars in Miramar Beach.

What they were building? Residents assumed it was their base, later named Amupac, and soon came to be associated with the city’s protection.

Imagine a crystal-like city in the depths of the sea—that is what Tampico residents believe the underwater alien base is. Located 1.3 km off Miramar beach, the Amupac base is supposed to be an “intraterrestrial and multidimensional secret zone” that is invisible to the human eye.

Why Do People Believe in the Tampico Alien Story?

The lack of physical evidence should have made it impossible for the residents to be resolute about the folklore. It would seem as though they were leaving their safety to hearsay.

However, their belief wasn’t only strengthened with words and stories passed along, but by a series of storms that were deflected from the city:

1. In 1988, Hurricane Gilbert was bound for Tampico when it suddenly changed course, avoiding the city and heading up the coast instead, killing 300 people. This was reflected in weather radar, where all signs of a storm disappeared as it approached the region.
2. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina loomed as a threat to the city. In response, locals went to Miramar Beach holding up signs and asking the aliens to protect them. Miraculously or coincidentally, the hurricane connected elsewhere and caused over 1800 deaths.
3. In 2013, Tropical Storm Karl was bound to strike Tampico’s shoreline. However, at the last moment, radars showed it taking a sharp turn and skipping the area.

These extreme weather conditions further fed the Amupac legend, making Tampico the center of Mexico’s alien culture. What’s even surprising is the residents’ claim that throughout these events, they had deep faith in the protection despite the red weather warnings.

Claims of Seeing Aliens in Tampico

Beyond the August 6, 1967 incident, multiple residents have come forward to share their extraterrestrial encounters, making it close to impossible to discredit the Tampico alien sighting.

One local, Juan Abraham Soto, who worked on an offshore oil platform near Miramar Beach, also claimed to have seen UFOs multiple times. Throughout his encounters, he had hypothesized that the beings in Amupac protected the city because they were also protecting themselves.

Another local, José Luis Cárdenas Saldierna, also shared his experience in the early 2000s.

I thought it was an airplane and that a part of it had fallen off. I watched it and realized that it was descending. I even looked for a place to run or get out of the way. I saw that it was a circular object and that it was oscillating, then it changed direction.

In 2023, locals reported spotting saucer-like objects hovering over the said alien base. Crew members on board an oil rig near Tampico took images of the said objects.

Two of which were shared publicly:

• One showed a small craft with glowing lights at the bottom. Six lights are visible under the spacecraft, surrounded by a silver disc.
• The other showed three illuminated dots forming a triangle.

The Story of Juan Carlos Ramón López Díaz

Another reason the Tampico alien sightings and the Amupac story stuck is an elaborate narrative from Juan Díaz.

Before the Tampico alien sightings, he also had his fair share of extraterrestrial encounters:

• On one occasion, he saw two metallic spheres descending near his house in Pemex Regional Hospital.
• On another occasion, lights were again above his house, which he thought were “Cantoya balloons, but remained static and flashed between red and blue.”

However, these weren’t how he carved himself a spot in Mexico’s extraterrestrial scene; it was after he claimed that he visited Amupac while meditating on two occasions:

1. On July 19, 2013
2. With the group he founded in 2015, the Asociación de Investigación Científica Ovni de Tamaulipas (AICOT)

Since these interesting trips, Díaz has discussed the Amupac beings, shared information about their base, and hypothesized who they are and why they are in Tampico.

How Can You Visit Amupac?

Díaz shared that he and his team have had “visual, telepathic, and astral contact” with the beings in Amupac.

According to him, the reason why the extraterrestrial city was out of sight to the human eye was because it belongs to the fifth dimension. Humans are limited to the third. This may mean it’s not as easily accessible as a nearby country, but it doesn’t make it impossible to visit.

The AICOT members had constantly visited Miramar Beach to investigate, and on one occasion, Díaz claimed they visited the underwater city.

The following statements will be a combination of two separate interviews. We’ve tried to piece together a solid description of his trips to Amupac to provide a clearer image of what it is like.

It’s not a physical journey, but an astral one, for which it is necessary to prepare emotionally, through a process of detoxification of the body and not consuming meat …

… We did a meditation, which is to be between asleep and awake, because there has to be a certain frequency to be able to use the astral body …

Upon making contact, which sometimes is just by calling them, we enter the sphere of light, fly over the city, and go to the beach. We enter the sea and arrive at some gates that open, then a ramp, and we enter their city …

From what I could see, it’s a city of glass and metal. We were able to enter a part of Amupac … I compare it to areas like Stockholm, but without trees. There is light, but you can’t see the sun.

What Did These Beings Look Like?

Díaz also claimed that they saw and made contact with a few residents. He described them as having “fair skin, and are slightly taller than the average human.” In the time that they were there, he noticed how they never smiled.

What I understand is that they do not have the emotional body or nervous system that we have. They do not need it …

He goes on to theorize about their lack of emotion and connects it to their visit.

Why Did They Build Amupac?

While there were no claims that he had spoken to these extraterrestrials directly, Díaz was still able to hypothesize why they settled in Tampico.

He mentioned that the beings wanted to learn about human emotions.

They wanted to know how we feel, since, for them, that doesn’t exist …

They are psychologists. What I understood is that they are monitoring the evolutions of human consciousness … Many people are vibrating with fear, lack, and illness, and they’re studying that. There are people who raise their frequency, who are not candidates for another type of examination.

What Does Science Say About the Tampico Alien Claims?

Skeptics of this case didn’t focus their energy on debunking the numerous Tampico alien sightings. Instead, they went straight to demystifying the Amupac beliefs.

Prevailing Westerly Winds

Dr. Rosario Romero was a climate scientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), who, like any genius, got interested in the city’s long streak of luck.

However, she was quick to shut down the idea.

The best reason she could come up with was broader atmospheric conditions. The high-pressure subtropical systems and prevailing westerly winds would explain why hurricanes are driven away from the city and more towards the US’ southern coast.

We now have advanced monitoring systems and numerical models that allow us to predict the intensity and trajectory of a storm, but trajectories still vary widely depending on the wider weather conditions.

She also mentioned that Tampico isn’t necessarily “protected” from storms. In fact, Tropical Storm Alberto affected the city in early 2024. Although it left Tampico unscathed, it still managed to enter the region.

Erratic Hydrometeorological Phenomena

Javier Francisco Álvarez,  a retired meteorological harbor master, said that erratic hydrometeorological trajectories can explain the phenomenon as a whole.

They do not always hit the same part or in the same place, or enter through the same way, touch land through the same place.

For this reason, he reiterated that other cities have also been hit by hurricanes like those that Tampico experiences. Álvarez believes that the lack of storms is more likely due to the waters near Southern Tamaulipas being slightly cooler.

As the water is one or two degrees colder, it manages to pull the mass of air and, consequently, causes the rejection of hurricanes. The air mass that enters through the Gulf is diverted towards the coasts of the United States.

How Has the Tampico Alien Legend Influenced Local Culture?

Outsiders who view the Amupac story as outlandish would soon be left questioning their beliefs once they set foot in the city.

Restaurants and shops lining Tampico’s streets have taken a bold step to embrace the city’s alien-loving identity. Extraterrestrial-themed memorabilia takes up most of the displays, while some have even chosen stereotypical green figures as their mascots.

As with every city with an extraterrestrial history, Tampico has become alien territory to the point that its identity has merged with the Tampico alien sightings. This has even reached the point where its government holds an annual event, “Day of the Martian” to celebrate it.

However, the Tampico alien legend isn’t only a conspiracy theory or a ploy to improve the city’s tourism. It’s about something deeper—a collective survival. The legend gave people a sense of resilience, a way to reclaim control, especially in the face of the unknown.

To dive deeper into the origins and meaning of the Amupac mystery, visit UFO Connect, explore detailed case studies in the UFO research website, and browse documented sightings preserved in the UFO archive.

FAQ

Where in Tampico are UFOs most commonly spotted?

UFOs are primarily spotted in Miramar Beach, where the Amupac base is believed to be located about 40 kilometers off its coast.

Has the Mexican government commented on UFOs in Tampico?

While it has become widely celebrated, the Tampico legend has only a strong local influence and has not reached the Mexican government. It has not taken any position regarding the theories presented by the Tampico residents.

Are there any videos or photos of UFOs over Tampico?

There are no photos or videos of the Tampico sightings during its initial event. However, there have been recent claims of photos allegedly taken in the Tampico area, which may be linked to the locals’ claims.