The Gustavo González Confrontation, 1954 (The Petare Incident)
By Orestes Girbau
The Roman philosopher Seneca once said that “it is preferable to be deceived in certain things than mistrust.” This applies perfectly in the case involving Cuban businessman Gustavo González, the protagonist of a famous CE-3 in the outskirts of Caracas, Venezuela.
In all fairness, it must be noted that the event was widely disseminated thanks to the heroic efforts of an array of prestigious researchers and journalists. This notable encounter took place on November 28, 1954.
Gustavo González León was a native of Havana, living in Venezuela. The time was around 2:00 a.m. when both he and his assistant, José Ponce, a Venezuelan national, drove along the road leading to Petare, and they witnessed a luminous circular object measuring some 8 feet in diameter hovering scant meters over the road, with the subsequent exit of two diminutive humanoids. The incredible experience took place exactly in the formerly small town of Los Teques, located in the heights of the sierra.
Everything suggests that the initial astonishment did not last very long. Without the least sign of terror, he faced off with one of the aliens, gripping it with his hands.
Gustavo González discussed how it was possible to seize the small humanoid.
What did those creatures look like?
According to what our fellow countryman reported and drew – given that Ponce fled the scene quickly – the outlandish characters had the following characteristics:
- Noseless heads and diminutive stature (like that of a child)
- Hairy bodies, weighing barely 40 pounds.
- Clawed hands.
- Flat feet.
We should add that the creatures wore some kind of short trousers, according to the testimony provided by the traumatized witnesses.
According to the somewhat contradictory reports of the time, the “Martian” escaped when an effort was made to open the vehicle door in order to bundle the creature inside. The creature gave the Cuban hard shove that sent him flying, five meters distant. It promptly returned to the UFO.
González said that he took out a sharp knife and drove it into the shoulder of the presumably extraterrestrial entity’s shoulder. This situation does not provide students of the subject many clues. If these were bestial Class 3 entities, as some say, the hardness of their hairy bodies likens them more to an android. Jumping like toads, they entered an opening on the side of the UFO after blinding and paralyzing the Cuban with a beam of light. The object took off at full speed, leaving a luminous wake behind.
Upon the craft’s disappearance, González was left in the middle of the road, exhausted, stunned and beaten.
The González case did not take long to become widely known. Over time, such personalities of the global UFO community such as Coral E. Lorenzen, Morris K. Jessup, Joao Martins or Aniceto Lugo put forth their beliefs and considerations regarding the Petare event.
José González Waite, a Venezuelan member of the Brooklyn New York-based “Flying Saucer Research Society” proposed that Gustavo González be dealt with by a hypnotist in order to convince public opinion of the truth of the fantastic event. Arguing that Gonzalez had felt no fear in dealing with the strange visitor, he would be even less fearful of being injected with “truth serum.”
Gustavo, who had valid certification from people in Petare as concerned his unblemished record, did not hesitate to reject the suggestion.
The event in Petare had not been an isolated phenomenon.
Around that time, Monsignor Sergio Godoy, the Bishop of Zulia, claimed having been a witness to the flight of strange luminous objects. He said that he and other witnesses had seen a strange object flying slowly at night, issuing violet-hued luminance. In a separate instance, Monsignor Godoy , this time in the company of a teacher, was able ascertain the unusual presence of a luminous UFO in broad daylight as it spun rapidly on its own axis, crossing the sky swiftly and leaving behind a wide, smoky wake.
Other stories from Pico del Avila suggested that enigmatic phosphorescence had been seen for a number of mornings, as well as in the so-called Silla de Caracas, between the hours of 5 and 7 am.
These stories came from the Rincón Verde poultry farm, confirming the presence of a curious device that moved at high speed, emitting an intense light. The event caused such disquiet among the farmworkers that José Bartolomeo, the supervisor, paid a visit to a nearby police prefecture located at El Hatillo.
A commission chaired by the El Hatillo police chief looked into the unusual complaint, forwarding its report to higher authority, stating that numerous dwellers of Rincón Verde, at Cerro El Pajuí, looking toward Pico del Avila and Silla de Caracas, had witnessed the maneuvers of a round object – similar to the one reported by Gonzalez and Ponce – as it flew swiftly over Pico del Este. This methodical investigation was conducted by questioning witnesses separately. All of them coincided as to the details of the UFO, its luminosity, the duration of the flight, trajectory and velocity in question.
All of the foregoing sounds like a formality employed by chroniclers in their efforts at making themselves understood when dealing with such controversial subjects. However, another inexplicable event was attached to all this.
It became known that radio telegraph operator N. Palacios, attached to Pan American Airways and at the Maiquetía airport, experienced a nervous breakdown on Friday, December 3rd. A suspicious communication interrupted all aeronautic frequencies for a matter of seconds. Palacios’s hasty notes would later disappear in a disconcerting manner.
The information that subsequently leaked out corroborated that the company invited Palacios to Fort Worth, Texas, in order to present a report to upper management, and ultimately, to make it known to the U.S. interplanetary research authorities.
Others added more to the maelstrom of news, saying that what had occurred to Palacios was nothing more than a cosmic message difficult to understand.
Those of us, who are tasked with understanding the case histories better on a day-to-day basis, must analyze and reflect some questions concerning the experiences of the two men.
Despite efforts aimed at stigmatizing and deriding both men, it was impossible to ascertain that they were intoxicated. However, each of them had experienced psychological impacts. González, for example, had experienced bumps and bruises, according to the medical personnel who attended to them.
Moreover, the presence of UFOs in the vicinity of Petare, Caracas, during the sightings season was evident. Famers, clergymen, policeman and civil aviation staff had been involved in the Venezuelan UFO scene to a lesser or greater extent in those days.
The Petare incident was picked up by magazines, books, publications and newspaper articles by serious and competent researchers. It was in those months – bear in mind that it was the year 1954 – and putting all conspiracy intrigue aside, which we shall deal with at the right time, the scientific authorities of the United States appeared to have kicked off an investigation into the presence of two satellites around our planet – a presence that caused some misunderstanding between the U.S. and the former USSR.
In the 1980s, I was able to find out from firsthand sources that Gustavo González was still living in Venezuela, and was still a subject of controversy for many inside and outside that country.
[Translation (c) 2023 S.Corrales, IHU with thanks to Orestes Girbau]