From "POLITICA", Thursday, July 8, 1999

Close Encounter of the Third Kind in Colonia Higueras

by Alberto Morales/Gisela Uscanga

An image. Its size: approximately 8 centimeters. Color: brown; Eyes: large; Arms: long. Inert. The story told hereabouts is that it has a wound on its skull which possibly brought about what we Earthlings call "death".

Politica was in touch with a cybernaut yesterday who showed us a number of graphic images. Distrustful and sullen, she didn't say much about the origin of the photos--what we do know is that there are two versions of how the alien was found. We are only telling the reader what is said here without making any claims for its authenticity. Here they are:

1)         On the side of a football field located in Colonia Higueras, a man who was playing ball on the site noticed something amid the grass when he went to collect the ball. He picked it up, looked at it, then threw it back. But one spectator of the game was well aware of his gestures and of the object he dropped to the ground: the problem is that when it hit the ground, some sparks flew off it. The spectator went straight to the player, demanding to know what it was. The player riposted that he could have it, if he wanted it. The strange object that drew the fan's attention proved to be a sort of doll, almost the size of a hand.

2)         A girl found the alien in a milpa (maize field) and took it to her father, who is only 17 years old. The girl's grandfather has been the one to face the media during this event.

What's being said about this creature is that it communicated telepathically. The alien claimed to be an "android" from the planet "Andromeda", who had come to Earth to carry out a mission which was now over. Being the only female among the crew, her companions decided to leave her behind...for unknown reasons. The person who had the "android" in his possession says that whenever he woke up, objects in the house had been inexplicably rearranged. He claims to having neither heard nor seen anything at all.

Saucer chaser Jaime Maussán contacted the creature's keeper upon learning of the phenomenon. He requested permission to take the being to conduct tests, and was refused. On the other hand, a specialist working at IMSS Clinic 11 took some photos of the "critter" which are circulating throughout the city.

Thus, so that the story won't end too soon, it is rumored that another unidentified being will be found in Xalapa 2000.

From "POLITICA", Tuesday, July 13, 1999

BABEL (editorial)

by Javier Hernández Alpizar

Like in a Scooby Doo episode, the skeptics arrived with a flashlight and discovered the trick and the special effects. The alien was just a foam rubber doll, made of the same stuff as the balls juggled by beggar children at the intersections to make a few coins. Once again, skeptics are the executioners of illusion. It will be necessary to wait for a reappearance of the large headed dwarves, fearful that other young men may discover that synthetics and the human hand are the authors of such great expectations as a close encounter with other intelligences.

For the moment, Enrique Yasser and José Hernandez are to be congratulated. Their skepticism is proof that there is still common sense and decency among the young. Aside from the natural ambition of having a "scoop" and the urge to be in the limelight that shadow any reporter who is proud of being one, their de-mythifying task is plausible. To make a living off deceiving respectable people with hoaxed videos and photos like Jaime Maussan has done (most famous for his autopsy of the plastic alien) is a way of being a scoundrel. The gullibility of the masses does not justify such behavior: the masses may not believe in politics, the government, the opposition, and they may find it increasingly hard to believe in God, but the are eager to embrace any astrological claptrap or alleged visionaries and prophets in the same way that they are willing to believe in the innocence of narcocelebrities. According to the massive UFO industry, we are being visited by beings from all galaxies and they're all midgets: the large-headed, large-eyed offspring of Steven Spielberg. It would appear that we are the one's who are different, and that they must see us as monsters. This time, the fraud was exposed, and no dismissal will be strong enough, but not because the respectable citizen isn't gullible: he's just anxious to be deceived. Therefore, the manufacturers of aliens will be in business for a long time...