Salvador Freixedo (1923-2019)
Sad news from Spain today. Salvador Freixedo, very likely the most compelling personality of the Spanish-speaking paranormal world, has left us for the great beyond. Freixedo became a well-known personality on television screens from Mexico to Argentina in the 1970s with his earnest discussions of paranormal phenomena and his posture on church doctrine, which led to his removal from the priesthood. This, however, did not keep him from writing a number of scathing indictments of religious dogma (El cristianismo, un mito más; Mi iglesia duerme and others), or as he wrote: "The true God of the Universe, the Supreme Intelligence totally unfathomable in its entirety to the human mind, does not go around demanding the constant adoration of it creations or signs of their affection like some jealous lover. This jibes with the concept that Christianity has of God: a very powerful "dude" who resembles us closely in both our positive and negative aspects. It is logical that such a god would require devotion, worship and even gifts. But the True God is not a beggar; the True God continues his ceaseless task of creating and taking pleasure in how his creatures unfold each according to its own nature, without any need for them to constantly turn to Him to thank him or ask Him not to condemn them to some eternal punishment. In enunciating this commandment we are venturing into an area in which the nascent cosmic theology meets the old dogmatic theology and clashes with it head-on. [...] If the Christian god were really a father, why should he demand of his children suffering and the cross? All the explanations that Christianity and other religions give us to solve this mystery are inconsistent and fade away when examined without fanaticism and prejudice. To make humans come into the world already guilty of a sin and to threaten them immediately with eternal hellfire are aberrations fit only for sick minds and it is high time that civilized humans rid themselves of them once and for all."
His contributions to ufology were no less iconoclastic, as readers of Flying Saucer Review and other publications discovered. Defendámonos de los dioses, the keystone of his work in the UFO field, equated the 'alien' presence to the multiple, nefarious 'gods' that have bedeviled humankind since the caves. The government of Ecuador discreetly solicited his advice concerning UFOs in the late 1970s, following a rash of aircraft disappearances over the Andes--some of them within range of the airport traffic tower. On the other hand, he was accused by Mexican authorities of inciting a panic when he personally investigated a number of deaths that had occurred in San Luis Potosí (north of Mexico City) in which the blood had been extracted form the victims in almost vampiric fashion. Freixedo was no stranger to the United States, having both taught and studied in this country: American audiences were first able to hear his message directly at the First World UFO Congress held in Phoenix AZ in May 1991. His presentation, entitled "Gods and Spacemen", was well-received by those in attendance.
In 1992, Illuminet Press published Visionaries, Mystics and Contactees - the first translation of his works into English - as part of an effort to make his work known to English-reading audiences. Events conspired to keep Defendamonos de los dioses (Beware of the Gods) and La Granja Humana (The Human Farm) from ever seeing the light of day.