MiBs in Mexico

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear  In the August 1975, APRO Bulletin, the front-page story, headlined “UFOs ‘Escort’ Mexican Aircraft” has details of a pilot’s reported UFO encounter. Backing him up is confirmation from the air traffic controller who was in contact at the time. What’s not included are details of the aftermath, which include reports by the witness of encounters with Men in Black. This part of the story can be found in the 1990 book, The UFO Silencers by Timothy Green Beckley, and in the 1997 British UFO Research publication (page 21 of the pdf) by Robert Bull, Men in Black: A Preliminary Report. According to the Bulletin, at 10:30 a.m. on May 3, 1974, 23-year-old Carlos Antonio de los Santos Montiel, took off from Zihuatenajo, state of Guerrero, in his Piper Aztec 24 with the registration, XB-XAU. He was headed for Mexico City on a cloudy day with poor visibility and had to climb to 14,500 feet to get above it. When he was over Tequesquitengo, he dropped down to try and get a look at Lake Tequesquitengo so he could verify his position. When he got below the clouds, fog and mist near the ground blocked his view of the lake, but his attention was quickly drawn to another matter altogether. To his right, he saw a 3-meter-diameter saucer with a cupula on top that had what looked like a small window and an antenna. He looked to his left and saw an identical object. Both were 20 centimeters above the wings and about 1 ½ meters from the cabin. According to the Bulletin, Montiel “told officials” the following: “I was petrified after I saw a third object which seemed about to collide head-on with the windshield. But it went beneath the aircraft and I heard a strange noise from below as though it had collided with the underside of the plane.” Montiel noted that his speed had decreased from 140 to 120 nautical mph. He tried to bank left in order to bump the left object away, but his controls were frozen. He tried lowering his landing gear to deal with the object underneath him but found it wasn’t functional. He then contacted the Mexico City Airport control tower and a transcript provided by APRO Field Investigator Fernando J. Tellez Pareja is presented. Montiel called in saying “Mayday!” and apparently was unable to hear a response. He then described his situation: “Extra alfa union to Center Mexico. My aircraft is out of control – I have no control over it. I have three unidentified objects flying around me. I have three unidentified objects flying around me, one came under my aircraft and hit it. The landing gear is locked in and the controls won’t release them. My position – I am on the Radial 004 from the VOR Tequesquitengo – I am not controlling the plane Center Mexico, can you hear me?” It doesn’t seem that Montiel was able to hear anything from the tower, but he was eventually put in radio contact with his uncle who was “an authority on aircraft.” The runways were closed at the airport, and preparations were made for an emergency landing. As Montiel got close to the airport, his elevation had gone from 15,000 feet to 15,800 feet. Then, the saucer on the left moved over the cabin until it was above the saucer on the right, and then, both flew off together. There is no mention of the third saucer. Montiel circled the airport eight times as he tried to lower the landing gear using a screw driver on the control column and finally managed to do so. He then landed on the grass between two runways at 1:34 p.m. where emergency vehicles were waiting. He was taken to the airport clinic and it was determined that he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.  Two days later he underwent tests to determine whether flying too high without oxygen had caused him to hallucinate. Dr. Luis Amezuca, chief of the Mexico City Airport’s Aviation Medicine Department, gave his opinion that Montiel was suffering from low blood sugar because he had skipped breakfast and inferred that this was the cause. Details of Montiel’s reported MiB encounters are on page 17 (page 22 of the pdf) of the BUFORA publication by Robert Bull. According to Bull, Montiel’s case got a lot of publicity, “much to his embarrassment.” He reluctantly agreed to appear on a TV show hosted by Pedro Ferriz, and on his way to the studio, a black Ford Galaxy limousine pulled in front of him, and he saw an identical car behind him. Both looked brand new. He was forced to pull over and stop, and as he went to get out of his car, he saw four tall men with broad shoulders get out of their cars and walk towards him. They looked Scandinavian, with very pale skin, and were wearing black suits. One of them went to Montiel’s door, put his hand on it, and prevented Montiel from getting out. With a “mechanical” tone, he said in Spanish, “Look boy, if you value your life and your family’s too, don’t talk any more about this sighting of yours.” Montiel was “stunned speechless,” and obediently turned his car around and drove home. Two days later, Montiel described his experience to Ferriz who told him he had heard similar stories from other witnesses. Montiel was convinced to proceed with the interview and it went forward without incident. According to Bull, J. Allen Hynek was in Mexico two months later and got in touch with Montiel after hearing about his case. He invited Montiel to his hotel, and he went, after first going for a job interview at Mexicana Airlines. Montiel was walking up the steps of the hotel when he was confronted by one of the men who had threatened him. The man said, “You were already warned once. You are not to talk about your experience.” Montiel tried to explain that he was only responding to an invitation, and the man “pushed him sharply back several feet” and said, “Look, I don’t want you to make problems for yourself. And why did you leave your house at six this morning? Do you work for Mexicana Airlines? Get out of here and don’t come back!” Once again, Montiel obeyed. When talking to Jerome Clark two years later, he said, “They were strange. They were huge, taller than Mexicans are, and they were so white. But the strangest thing of all is that all the while they were in my presence, I never saw them blink.” Beckley interviewed Hynek and includes his comments on the case (page 109 of the pdf) in his book. Hynek confirmed that Montiel had failed to show up, but said he came back the following Saturday. Hynek said he interviewed Montiel for two hours and invited him to have breakfast on Monday. Montiel didn’t show up for that and explained that he had again been threatened by the same man.