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192
The Journal of Parapsychology
C6rdoba by the Catholic priest Enrique Novillo Pauli. One of the
principal activities of the Institute was to teach courses on parapsy-
chology in the school of psychology at the University. The staff of
the Institute also provided consultation and orientation to bishops,
priests, and
families about phenomena such
as
poltergeists and
bleeding religious images. Unfortunately this institute recently
closed down after the death of Father Novillo.
Prior to the creation of the Institute, Novillo Pauli had been at
the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man in North Car-
olina where he conducted some PK research with seeds as targets
under the auspices of the Organization of American States. Novillo
Pauli presented the results of his experiments at the annual conven-
tion of the Parapsychological Association
in
1972
(Novillo
Pauli,
1973). During the period of his stay at the FRNM, he also prepared
a book on parapsychology entitled Los Fen&menos Parapsicologicos : Psi
en
el Laboratorio (1975), which included reports of his PK studies.
The studies were also reported in the Spanish-language parapsycho-
logical journals Cuademos de Parapsicologia (1974) and Psi Comunica-
cion (1976).
In spite of the marked decline since the 1970s, an important re-
cent development
is the organization of a parapsychology confer-
ence in Argentina in 1987, the Primer Encuentro de Parapsicologia.
It was sponsored by the University of Salvador of Buenos Aires and
held under the direction of Enrique Novillo Pauli. Some of the top-
ics discussed at the conference were mental healing studies, altered
states of consciousness in relation to psi performance, and quantum
mechanics (Alvarado,
1989b). Soon afterward, Argentina suffered
the loss of two of
its most important pioneers, J. Ricardo Musso,
president of the Instituto Argentino de Parapsicologia (which he di-
rected until his death in 1989) and, in the same year, Enrique Novi-
llo Pauli. Consequently, the activities of Musso’s institute declined,
and the institute at the University of El Salvador headed by Enrique
Novillo Pauli closed down. Since then, the Institute of Parapsychol-
ogy headed by Kreiman has remained as the most important source
of professional parapsychology in Argentina.
During the
1980s, parapsychology in Argentina was character-
ized by a marked
decline
in experimental
activities. Most of the
work during this period was conducted by members of the Institute
of Parapsychology under Kreiman, who, as in previous years, main-
tained a constant interest in reporting original experiments, includ-
ing replications of foreign experimental works. They also continued
to publish regularly their quarterly journal, which contained trans-
lations of some of the most important ^fpro^iH^o^flifeasI^^OS/OS/l 0
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Parapsychology in the Ibero-American World
Recently, a new parapsychology journal, the Revista Argentina de
Psicologia Paranormal, has appeared.
It
is published by an indepen-
dent group of parapsychologists called LAPAS (Laboratory of Para-
psychology) and edited mainly by Alejandro Parra. Judged by
its
content, the journal seems to be a worthwhile addition to the cur-
rent
efforts
to keep the Argentinian audience
well informed on
professional parapsychology. However, some of the experiments of
the researchers in this group have not been well received by other
Argentinian researchers, who consider the experiments to be flawed
(Kreiman, 1990; see also Alvarado, 1990). LAPAS has also started a
Spanish-language parapsychology information center. The Center is
building a computer data bank from which Spanish-speaking para-
psychologists may obtain information about a bibliography on para-
psychology similar to the Parapsychology International Abstracts pub-
lished by Rhea White (Villanueva, 1990).
In addition to these recent developments, CSICOP has made its
way to Argentina. A former member of Naum Kreiman’s research
group, Ladislao Marquez, has created an Argentinian version called
Centro Argentino Para la Investigaci6n y Refutation de la Pseudo-
ciencia (CAIRP). The most important aims of CAIRP are
to de-
nounce fraud and to promote a critical scientific assessment of the
Haims made by pseudoscientists. The board of directors, headed by
Ladislao Marquez, also includes foreign members, Martin Gardner,
for instance.
The
prospects
for Argentinian
parapsychology
in
the
1990s
seem less favorable than those of the booming period of previous
years. The present difficulties in the Argentinian economy have in-
creased for researchers, making it difficult for them to obtain funds
to support their research and publications.
In a recent survey conducted on the present status of parapsy-
chology in Argentina, Naum Kreiman reported that research has
decreased substantially over the last five years. Most of the recent
research reports have come from Kreiman’s
Institute of Parapsy-
chology. Educational activities in the field are almost nil except for
a course being offered at a small university called John F. Kennedy
University (Kreiman & Ivnisky, 1989).
In a letter published in the Journal of Parapsychology, Jorge Villa-
nueva (1990) pointed out some of the major problems that Argen-
tinian researchers face at the present time. Among them are lack of
support from public and private institutions, lack of serious books
in Spanish to provide responsible information on the subject, and
lack of proper technology and other means to conduct sophisticated
research. Some of these problems, Villanueva suggests, may be di-
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194
The Journal of Parapsychology
minished by increasing communication and collaboration with for-
eign parapsychologists.
^PuerEPfflco
Early psychical research in Puerto Rico was strongly influenced
by the nineteenth-century Spiritualist movement that had also
spread to other countries. Mefliumistic seances in which raps and
communication with the spirits were common drew attention mostly
from people wifli a religious' interest.
It was perhapk this influence that led Agapito Morales to publish
in
1904 a more
critical examination of these phenomena.
In
his
booklet Breve
Tratcwx) de Hipnotismo, Magnetismo, Espiritismo y Suges-
toterapia, Morales contended that
all those occurrences could take
place without assumina/the action of spirit agencies. He interpreted
possession as being autosuggestion and attributed paranormal phe-
nomena to our own psychic faculties. He considered that all of the
experiments made until today demonstrate that there is an invisible
force in our being /that is capable, for instance, of playing a guitar,
lifting a table, or lifting our Wn bodies. According to him this force
is under our control. He also believed that mediumistic communi-
cation could be /explained by means of telepathy between the me-
dium and the sitter.
\
Another major influence in the formation of a more empirical
and critical approach to parapsychology was the work of Francisco
Ponte, a demist who became presidem of the Puerto Rican Feder-
ation of Spiritists. Ponte visited European 1912 to familiarize him-
self with the work of several SpiritualistkSeenters, as well as psychi-
cal research centers. He had had the opportunity to participate in
mediumi/tic seances in
Italy with famous mediums such
as Lucia
Sordi and Eusapia
Palladino. During these Wances he witnessed
manifestations of apparent
telekinesis and
materializations
(Alva-
rado, 1987; Ponte, 1914).
\
Later Ponte returned to Puerto Rico and trietd to reproduce the
same phenomena with local mediums. He reported some of his find-
ings on
materializations of body
parts during seances
to Walter
Franklin Prince, then Research Officer of the ASPR. Ponte’s work
was important because of the
critical and empirical approach he
brought to his research on seance phenomena (Alvarado, 1979a).
the Ibero-American World
195
The
theoretical ideas of Ralph U.
Sierra are
also
interesting.
Sierra, who was interested in the psychology of ESP, believed that
to develop telepathy
it was necessary
to develop
first an internal
state of tranquility so that the electrical activity of the brain did not
interfere with the telepathic process (Sierra, 1966).
Some of the most important developments, however, took place
during the last two centuries. At the educational level,
it
is impor-
tant to note the work of Celinda Madera who, during the
1970s,
offered 6 series of courses and lectures at different campuses of the
University of Puerto Rico. Madera’s courses focused on the human-
istic and transpersonal aspects of psi. She herself had received train-
ing
at Dulte
University’s Parapsychology Laboratory (Alvarado,
1979a).
\
/
In 19^4, 'Nestor A. Rodriguez Egtudero, a lawyer, published a
series of essays about parapsychology and Spiritualism in his book
Los Caminos detDios. He discussed^ great variety of paranormal phe-
nomena. His mhin objective was to show that parapsychology dem-
onstrates the spiritual aspect A man (Rodriguez Escudero, 1974).
Another development m 1977 was the creation of the Institute
de InvestigacionesVsicoffefcas at the University of Puerto Rico, May-
agiiez campus. Fourtded/to conduct investigations in parapsychology
and related areas, thAlnstitute carried out studies of various param-
eters of Kirlian photography and of the effects of hypnosis on ESP.
However, these rettearoh investigations were never made available
for publication. Emring this period Alfonso Martinez Taboas began
to publish a newsletter Expkjando lo Paranormal, a semipopular mag-
azine later edited by CarlosVlvarado starting in 1976.
Martine/Taboas and Carlos Alvarado wrote articles on parapsy-
chology ipSpanish for the Spanish journal Psi Comunicacion; they
also published in other journals. Their articles covered a wide range
of topics. Among these, Alvarado Wrote on experimental studies of
OBEs/(1976), historical precedents
0>f the so-called psychic discov-
eries behind the Iron Curtain (1978k the use of historical knowl-
edge (1979b), and on J. B. Rhine (1980$. Martinez Taboas published
a review of the problem of repeatability in parapsychology (1979),
critiques of psychological and physiological concepts of poltergeist
research (1977,
1980,
1984; Martinez Taboas & Alvarado,
1981),
and a discussion of the concept of parsimony applied to parapsy-
chology (1983).
The work of Martinez Taboas and Alvarado has been very im-
portant in the effort to bridge the language barrier between the
Spanish researcher and the non-Spanish-speaking researcher. This
10 This section on Puerto Rican parapsychology partly summarizes information
contained in an article by Alvarado (1979a).
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Parapsychology in