Editor's Note: Many of our regular readers are no doubt familiar with David Biedny's personal account of the dramatic UFO sighting he and his family experienced while living in Venezuela in 1974. The following account as published in the periodical, "2001" was uncovered by researcher Hector Escalante in collaboration with David.
The report affirms the scale of the event and the multitude of witnesses that observed the crafts-"FW".
MYSTERIOUS OBJECTS IN THE SKY OVER CARACAS
By Eduardo Su'arez
"2001"
8-1-1974
SEEN BY THOUSANDS; MALQUET'iA RADAR PICKED UP NOTHING
There was no explanation until this morning about the phenomenon that was a source of concern for thousands of residents of Caracas and that was immediately associated with the controversial notion of "flying saucers, following the quick flyby of four luminous objects crossing the skies of the capital city within 15 seconds. Interpretation of the controversial event is the account that no nocturnal overflights by combat aircraft were involved, and that the Radar Operations Center at Maiquet'ia, from where the objects were also sighted, did not pick up anything on its various electronic systems.
ON AN WEST-EAST DIRECTION
Transit of the unidentified flying objects was witnessed by thousands of persons. Dozens of phone calls were received at the "2001" newsroom as from 11:30 last night, requesting information on the matter. Reporters of this newspaper, returning from an assignment in Maiquet'ia, also witnessed the flight of the luminous objects, along with other people who saw them in places as distant as Catia or Prados del Este.
Among the witnesses is a commercial airliner captain whose name is kept confidential and who provided a more nuanced version in accordance with his logical awareness of aeronautics. Our source explained that it was a formation of four luminous objects - a main one, lacking a tail, and three acting as "escorts", leaving a luminous wake as they crossed the heavens - which appeared in the southern area of Caracas at 11:30 p.m... The formation was located at an elevation of between ten to fifteen degrees over the horizon, crossing the skies over Caracas in a West-East direction at prodigious speed. The four objects vanished - to the eyes of the informant, who was located at Prados del Este - behind the hills of Petare in the La Lagunilla sector. The flying objects covered the entire distance in no more than 20 seconds at a speed far in excess of any known jet, and making no noise whatsoever.
This account was confirmed by passerby on Avenida San Martin, as well as others in the capital's downtown area and even by residents of Los Ruices.
AT MIRAFLORES AND MAQUETIA
News of the unforeseen and inexplicable appearance of the unidentified flying objects became known even in the Miraflores Palace, where President Carlos Andr'es P'erez and his Ministerial Cabinet were holding an extended session at the moment, one whose outcome was expected by dozens of journalists. The event was remarked upon, although there was no formal interpretation of the occurrence.
Possibly by official request, the Radar Operations Center at Maiquet'ia reported that the flying objects had been visually detected, but that no electronic device had recorded their transit, as would have been the case with airplanes. The matter acquired an incredible context when it was established that no commercial flight had passed over Caracas and that the General Air Command had asked Maiquet'ia for a report on the subject, which proves that no nocturnal operations by Mirage supersonic fighters could have been the cause, as some suspected. A similar request for information was also made by the Ministry of Defense, as was learned in Miraflores. This corroborates the non-existence of any flight over the skies of Caracas.
In the early hours of the morning it was learned that the luminous objects had been seen only minutes before 11:30 p.m. over Marcay and Valencia, where the possibility of nocturnal exercises was also raised, given the proximity of the Palo Negro air base. This suggestion was discarded, like the others, and as of this morning the strange phenomenon still remains unexplained, waiting for the Cajigal Observatory to put forth one final possibility: that it was a meteor shower, even when this alternative has been dismissed in advance due to the fact that meteorites fall in semi-vertical trajectories and do not fly horizontally, much less maneuver, as was the case last night.
* (Translation by Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology)
* Special Thanks To David Biedny
See Also:
VENEZUELA: TRIANGULAR UFO OVER CARACAS
VENEZUELA: MYSTERIOUS LIGHTS OVER CARACAS
Sharp-Dressed Men: The Men-in-Black are Back
