Ex Libris

A Random Sampling of Hispanic Ufology in Print

La Noche de Mi Encuentro con Extraterrestres by Amaury Rivera. Mexico: Editorial Diana. Phone - [525] 575-0711. 211 pages. Paperback.

This book retells the beginning and the aftermath of one of the most controversial cases to ever rock the Spanish-speaking UFO community. What exactly happened to Amaury Rivera in May 1988? Was in fact abducted by non-human forces and given a terrifying view of the future, or was he simply creating his experiences out of this air, as his detractors have charged?

This book will not answer either of these questions. Ghost-written by Miami-based author Manuel Figueroa, La Noche... is a straightforward retelling of the experiences discussed elsewhere and the very interesting aftermath of the experiences. UFO critics will notice that the book hearkens back to the early days of contacteeism á la George Adamski and has elements of more contemporary contactee chronicles from South America and Europe. It is not known at this time if Rivera's book will be translated into English. Rating:

UFOs: A Great New Dawn for Humanity by Enrique Castillo Rincón (translated from the original Spanish by Hugo A. Castro) Blue Dolphin Publishing, 1997. 256 pages. Softbound. $19.95

Eduardo Castillo's encounter with humanoid aliens from the Pleiades ranks among the greatest stories of Latin American ufology (who cares if the Pleiades are too hot to have planets of any kind orbiting them?) for the sheer logic of what is clearly a contactee experience. Unlike 99.5 % of contactees, Castillo was given no discernible message to impart to the rest of the ignorant human flock and was treated to several trips by saucer to a number of locations. His experiences were allegedly found so interesting that by the U.S. government that he was whisked off to Washington D.C. to undergo a series of "tests".

What strikes the reader most is the innocence and lucidity of Castillo's ostensibily impossible claims. The reader is drawn into the story and is able to accept it at face value despite the fact that a little voice in the back of his or her head is shouting "put the book down!". Castillo's candid retelling of his experiences with his extraterrestrial host "Cyril" and an experience at a "camp" for contactees in the Andean highlands of Peru -- staffed by a variety of humanoid aliens, some of them veritable giants -- are a must read for the most hardened skeptic. Inexplicata gives this one .