While we in the U.S. continue to marvel that The New York Times published an investigative report on the U.S. military pilots who have seen UFOs, El Tiempo (The Time), the largest daily news source in Colombia, has gone one step further. On June 11, 2019, El Tiempo published a report about “strange beings measuring more than two meters tall, speaking with a robotic voice, and dressed in black” in Guasimal, a small farming town near Zarzal on the west coast of Colombia.

“According to locals, the only thing that changed their daily lives is what happened in December 2012, when these beings began to be observed. Even today, these humanoids are still reported.”

In a U.S. city, a report like this on the national news would eventually lead to books, a documentary, an annual festival and possibly a movie with a Dancing with the Stars wannabe. However, back in 2012, there seem to have been some local media reports and a few videos (here and here) made by UFO investigators, but not much national interest in eyewitness testimonies of an estimated 300 laborers who claimed to have seen “disc-shaped objects” from which these “humanoids” emerged.

According to El Tiempo, it appears that sightings of the tall humanoids continued in the town periodically over the next six years, but attention never rose beyond urban legend status because there was no video or photographic evidence of them. That changed somewhat in December 2018 when farmer Diego Mondragón recorded his encounter with the beings who were seen at on a neighbor’s property.

“I realized what was happening because I had already had contact with them, but some of those on the farm were scared and there was a shot. I left the house and approached the fence of the farmhouse to tell them that they [the extraterrestrials] were calm, peaceful.”

Mondragón claims that because he had been in contact with these beings before, the five on his neighbor’s farm trusted him enough to speak to him in those strange robotic voices and let him record their message on his cellphone.

“We have been allowed to come and deliver a sacrificial message for humanity. It was a message of love and allegiance . Love one another because the human race will soon be wiped out ; take these warnings into account. “

There’s no indication in the El Tiempo article that the reporter heard the recording or is merely repeating Mondragón’s testimony, which moved on to more details about the “extraterrestrials.”

“Then, the supposed to be coming from another planet declared that they lived in the region of Guasimal for 60 years, where they claim to have an underground base of 5000 square meters, a space where they would house a mothership. They would come from the planet Orion.”

Police officer Manuel Velandia Márquez told El Tiempo that he responded to a disturbance call and claims he saw “these silhouettes about 2 meters high” and also recorded their message. According to Márquez:

“(They were) more human beings than we are. They will preserve something of humanity and prepare us for future events.”

Again, El Tiempo doesn’t say how he knows this nor whether his audio recording was played for the reporter. It contacted Cristian Ramos, a ufologist from the Contact Ovni Colombia group, who says he investigated the initial sighting in 2013, talked to Diego Mondragón, who was one of the original witnesses, and claims to have seen the ETs himself.

“In the distance, about 200 meters, there was a silhouette of about 2.30 meters, a thick build, black clothes, a black suit, boots. He wavered from left to right, never remained motionless. He watched us.”

Ramos says the beings had a hostile reaction when he pulled out a camera, which may explain why there are no photos or video of them or even their silhouettes. Seven years later, there’s still nothing more than numerous witness testimonies and the alleged audio recordings. El Tiempo says that local authorities refuse to deny the stories.

What should we make of the alleged humanoids of Guasimal? The witness accounts are as numerous and as detailed as many in the U.S. whose locations have celebrated them with festivals and documentaries. The fact that The New York Times published a serious report on the Air Force UFO sightings gave them credence. Should El Tiempo’s report do the same for the accounts of the Guasimal humanoids?

There have been many discussions and arguments recently about the difficulties facing those in the ufology, cryptid and paranormal fields when trying to gain acceptance and credibility. This case offers another good example.