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The Santa Lucía Air Base just north of Mexico City in the Mexican State of México is home to 8 air force squadrons and a small residential colony of soldiers of the Mexican army. The base opened in 1952 during the administration of President Miguel Alemán and has served as one of the major military bases serving central Mexico. Santa Lucia has the widest runway of any airport in Mexico and has received many different types of aircraft. In May of 1971, the base had a most unusual vehicle appear in its skies and then nearly land, hovering just a few yards above the earth for several minutes. The Santa Lucía case is one of the most detailed and bizarre close encounters in the annals of Mexico’s UFO lore.
It was a warm night in May in 1971. Teenager Dolores Martínez lived on base with her parents. Her father was an enlisted man in the Mexican army. When Dolores couldn’t sleep, she often opened her window and stared out at the stars. Sometime in the early morning, hours before dawn, she did what she normally did, and opened her bedroom window. Dolores’ gaze turned to a nearby field where she saw a cylinder-shaped object of a dull metallic color hovering over the ground, about 20 or so feet above the field. A hatch opened from the underbelly of the ship and from it emerged a round metal platform. Standing on the platform were two men dressed all in white, even down to their shoes. According to Dolores’ testimony many years later, she said they looked like they were wearing what doctors would wear. These humanoids, who were pale-skinned and had light brown hair, looked very Caucasian to the young girl, and she got a better look at them as they approached her house. When the two noticed Dolores watching them, the girl reported that she heard a voice in her head say, “Relax. We are peaceful. Nothing will happen to you.” This made her feel at ease, almost to the point that she felt like she knew them. Dolores accepted their telepathic invitation to come outside and then walked with the two mysterious men to the craft until she was directly under it. The hatch opened again, and this time a smaller and older man exited. Dolores described him as having a closely cropped white beard and that he looked like a human of about 70 years old. He had a kind face and wore the same white uniform as the other two. Unlike the others, though, the older man spoke to Dolores and his Spanish was perfect. He introduced himself as “El Mayor” or, in English, “The Elder.” He asked the teenage girl if she would like to board the craft and she said, “yes.” Dolores ascended through the hatch and into the main room of the ship, which seemed similar to “The Bridge” in the starships of the “Star Trek” universe. There were sparkling lights on the curved walls and ceiling, and in the center of this bridge was a round metal table and benches that were welded to the floor. The benches and table were surrounded by a metallic ledge. A few minutes after she boarded, The Elder asked Dolores if she would like to visit their planet if they promised to return her to Mexico. She agreed, at which point he gave her a white uniform to wear over her pajamas.
The Elder told the girl to grab on to the metallic ledge and after she complied, he sat at the table and started pushing buttons. Dolores described the control panel as looking similar to the buttons on the surface of a microwave. The Elder gave instructions to the other two beings without uttering a sound. He used a combination of telepathy and simple hand gestures. The room was silent and even though Dolores was holding on to the ledge as instructed, she felt no movement. When she asked The Elder what was going on, he explained to her that they were already in outer space and they were flying across the galaxy at speeds far beyond what humans were capable of creating with their aircraft and rockets. Dolores asked if she could see what it looked like outside the ship, so The Elder pushed a button and a small window-like opening appeared, but there were no stars. The kind older man explained that because of their velocity, she was only able to see black. A few minutes after the window demonstration, the ship slowed down because it was approaching the alien home world, and this time again, Dolores could feel no motion in the ship, no deceleration at all. The Elder pointed to the window-like opening and Dolores saw a small silver sphere come into view. The girl was told to brace herself for a landing, but she felt no shock or movement of any kind when the craft touched down on the alien planet.
The hatch of the ship opened and the 4 went into a small room to start what would be a decontamination process. The two taller aliens went first followed by Dolores accompanied by The Elder. They removed her white uniform and put her into a transparent pod. In the pod she was showered with liquid and what she would later describe as a strong cold wind. After the sterilization process Dolores was given a new white tunic and led into a room with a metallic ceiling and a dim light coming from the entire length of the floor. From this room she walked through a long corridor that was full of people from this new world. They were 
hurrying about, carrying things, seemingly going about their everyday tasks in a serious manner. Although Dolores was a stranger in this new world, no one paid any attention to her and went about their business. In this corridor her small party was joined by what appeared to be several bodyguards and servants. In a later interview Dolores would recall that everyone appeared to her to be the same age, somewhere in their early 20s, all except The Elder. They were also very Caucasian in appearance: taller than the average Mexican with light brown or blond hair and light-colored eyes. From the corridor, The Elder took Dolores to their living area, explaining a little bit about alien society along the way. On their world there was no such thing as marriage and their people reproduced by way of artificial insemination. Their society was extremely controlled, and disease did not exist. When Dolores asked whether people on this world were immortal, The Elder stated that they did live for a long time, but not forever, and when someone died, they would immediately be replaced by a new baby so that the world’s population was forever stable. They took her to some sort of daycare center which consisted of a large room full of children with one woman managing things by pushing buttons on several consoles. The children were kept isolated while the adults lived 6 to a room. Dolores noted that with the exception of one of the children who smiled at her, everyone she came across was very serious and businesslike. The Elder then took Dolores to a huge room full of lush vegetation topped by a glass dome. Many of the plants she recognized. He explained to her that all the flowers, trees and shrubs in this domed greenhouse had come from Mexico. The older alien stated that this is what their own planet once looked very much like, before they lost a protective layer of atmosphere and they were all forced to live underground. This is why Dolores saw no sun while she was walking through these buildings: they were all under the planet’s surface. Dolores asked for some water and it was given to her after The Elder explained that water was extremely rare on this planet. She was also offered food – colorful squares that looked like bon-bons – but she refused. The Elder reassured her that she could digest anything there because their physiology was similar to that of humans. There were very little differences between species, he explained. He also added that if humans ever needed their help, they were a peaceful people and would come to earth and assist.
Speaking of earth, it was at that time when Dolores asked when she was going to go home. The Elder responded by asking her if she wanted to stay. He explained that humans from different parts of earth had been living on his world for many years of their own free will. If she wanted to stay with him his people would gladly accept her. The teenage girl thought about it for a few moments and then declined. The Elder smiled and escorted her back through the same corridors she initially passed through and led her back to the docking area where the spaceship was parked. Dolores was given a white tunic to wear again and she put it on before she boarded the craft. She was accompanied by The Elder and the two aliens she initially met when the craft first landed on earth. Again, she was told to hold on to the ledge during the ship’s takeoff, but she felt nothing and heard nothing, just motionless silence. The Elder manned the controls as he did before and within a few minutes Dolores was back where she started. The craft’s hatch opened up over the familiar field adjacent to the Santa Lucía base, her home. It was not yet dawn and they had not been gone for very long. The Elder had some final words of advice for the young girl: Tell no one of your encounter. He reasoned that no one would believe her anyway, so it would be best to keep it all a secret. Dolores said good- bye and walked to her house. By the time she got to her front door and turned around, the spacecraft was gone.
The testimony of Dolores Martnez would appear 9 years after the incident in a book published by Mexican UFO researcher Luis Ramírez Reyes titled Acoso Extraterrestre: Hablan las Víctimas. This translates into English as, Extraterrestrial Harassment: The Victims Speak. Since this account appeared Dolores’ testimony has been ridiculed, examined, discounted and explored in great detail. Many serious UFO investigators dismiss the incident as a fake, alleging that the story was either made up by Dolores or fabricated by the author to sell more copies of his book. Since the 
publication of the book and subsequent interviews, no one has seemed to corroborate her testimony. No one at the base has any record of strange craft being spotted in the skies from 1971, although witnesses and records may be difficult to come by decades after the fact. Those who are not so dismissive and look to some of the details of the story are inclined to believe that something strange or even otherworldly happened to the teenage Dolores Martínez. Some think that she never went into outer space and that she was taken aboard some sort of experimental craft manufactured by the Americans or possibly the Soviets. The people she described could have been her neighbors to the north or individuals from Eastern Bloc countries. During her testimony, Dolores insisted she never felt like she was moving while she was on board the supposed interstellar craft. This has led people to believe that perhaps she never traveled outside earth’s atmosphere, and this supposed spaceship was a portal to another dimension or took her to somewhere beneath the earth, peopled by scientists from the main Cold War powers. Dolores Martínez lived to regret not heeding the words of The Elder and was sorry she ever gave an interview to Ramírez for his book. She hasn’t spoken to anyone about her encounter since the early 1980s. Without further details or corroborating testimonies, what happened outside the Santa Lucía base in May of 1971 may forever remain a mystery.
REFERENCES:
Ramírez Reyes, Luis. Acoso Extraterrestre: Hablan las Víctimas. Mexico City: Planeta, 1980. (In Spanish) Buy the book on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2YSYJ1D
