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Dominican Republic: UFO Activity in the 1970s
From the files of the late Noel Rigau, CEOVNI (1974)
24-april-1973: An important businessman made a statement to the Listín Diario newspaper regarding a sighting of an odd circular device that landed between sugar cane plantations in Villa Altagracia. The object descended to a distance of some fifty feet over the ground before issuing a beam of light. It then rose into the air and vanished at a prodigious speed. The object was described as having a greenish-blue color “very similar to a mercury light”. The event, also witnessed by the businessman’s companion, took place a 0400 hours. That same day, bus driver Manuel Rodríguez reported seeing a strange object with powerful lights flying low in the sky near San Cristobal.
28-april-1973: An anonymous physician told the Listín Diario newspaper (story appearing in the 5-may-73 edition) that he had seen a ‘zeppelin’ – like object near the intersection of Boca Chica and San Isidro roads on the Mella highway. The object made a sudden stop to disgorge five small objects, which flew away southward in formation. This event occurred at 0330 hours. Substantiating this story was an unnamed caller who contacted the newsroom at the same time and date to report a sighting of “5 lights emerging from a star” as he departed San Pedro de Macorís.
Late April 1973: Shortly before 28-April, Jose Antonio Flaquer, a prominent livestock farmer in Nisibón, Higuey, in the eastern reaches of the country, reported that he had seen an object in the sky that he described as “highly luminous, descending at a distance less than 500 meters” from his current position. Furthermore, he added that the UFO remained nestled among the trees and shrubs in his property for about 6 minutes. After that, it took off at a dazzling rate of speed in a southeasterly heading, toward the Mona Passage.
29-july-1973: In the southern locality of Matas de Farfán, Dante Milciades Ramirez, Aquilo and Marino de León, and Ismael Castillo Mateo observed three UFOs at 19:40 hours at the level of a nearby hill. According to the eyewitnesses, the UFO’s “kept crossing each other’s paths.”
18-aug-1973: On the northern coast of Hispaniola, in Puerto Plata, various witnesses claim having seen two luminous clouds moving toward the SE. At least 12 persons observed the same phenomenon from Cabarete Beach, while another UFO was reported in Rio San Juan simultaneously.
23-sep-1973: Mr. Luis Rodriguez, traveling through the town of Dajabón at 20:30 hours, near the border with Haiti, saw an unknown flying object at a distance of some 300 meters. Mr. Rodríguez would later say that the “object appeared to be metallic” and radiated intermittent lights at regular intervals. He further described it as “being larger than the full Moon.”
24-oct-1973: 21:00 hours. Four people, including a doctor, two state employees and an elderly woman witnessed the descent of an object with a solid and metallic external appearance. The witnesses, who expressed a desire to remain anonymous, indicated that they saw the object over a period lasting between 8 and 10 minutes. According to their testimony, the object showed “fluctuations as it approached ground level, then became invisible.” This event was reported in the vicinity of the border town of Loma de Cabrera, where the witnesses went to deliver their testimony. When they returned to the area where the sighting took place, there was no trace whatsoever of the object they had seen.
2-dec-1973. Four witnesses were treated to the sight of a UFO during a land inspection in Villa del Mar on Juan Dolio Beach. A lawyer identified only initials (R.F. de V.) claimed having seen “an intense yellow light with a paler center” at low altitude and at a distance. This “light” was revolving, and a motionless red dot was observed on the left side of the object. It was described as being the size of the full moon and it came to within 300 meters of the witnesses before executing a ninety degree turn, vanishing from sight. The entire sighting lasted 2 minutes. The UFO was completely silent throughout this event.