OPINION:
People who live in Colombia’s Andean region have no doubt that UFOs exist (“What’s the real truth about aliens and UFOs?” Web, March 20). They see them all the time.
In 1969, when I lived there, a local and I saw one at night heading west toward the city of Cali. It flew too high and too fast to be a normal aircraft. At first, we thought it was an artificial satellite, but then it made a 90-degree turn south toward Ecuador and Peru (where the mysterious Nazca Desert is).
Not long afterward, an Avianca pilot who flew cargo planes at night told me that pilots saw such things routinely. Being trained in celestial navigation, they had no doubt as to what the objects were.
In general, people there took these sightings in stride, even with a sense of humor. A favorite restaurant of mine when I lived in Colombia is today named Platillos Voladores, Spanish for “Flying Saucers.”
In his piece for The Washington Times, Billy Hallowell says biblical scholars might say these supposed aliens are demonic. The Colombians I knew would doubt it. For all we knew, the UFOs had been patrolling around up there for years before we saw them, showing no aggressive intent.
Wouldn’t it be startling to find, upon conversing with extraterrestrials, that they are friendlier than vengeful Democrats now acting like ayatollahs?
JOHN S. MASON JR.
Irvington, Virginia
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