Military UFO video could be key to credibility in enthusiast's career

The Dallas Morning News
Sun, Jul. 25, 2004

Military UFO video could be key to credibility in enthusiast's career

BY LAURENCE ILIFF

MEXICO CITY, Mexico - (KRT) - Jaime Maussan has spent the past decade collecting
possible evidence of alien visits to Earth and maintains he has had personal
contact with other "entities."

He presents UFO photos, videos and testimony on two Internet sites, at
conferences in Mexico and the United States, on the radio and on his new
prime-time television show.

Entertainer, journalist and believer, Maussan is the guru of a subculture of UFO
and space-travel devotees in Mexico, where there are a surprising number of
reported sightings.

Like their astronomer ancestors, Mexicans embrace the notion of life in outer
space and are generally less cynical about the UFO phenomenon than Americans.

"In no other place in the world is there such a commitment to producing
evidence" of UFOs as in Mexico, he said.

And now Maussan says he has secured the most definitive proof yet of
extraterrestrial visitors, and from an unlikely source: Mexico's
super-secretive military.

The air force tape shows 11 luminous flying objects that military experts can't
explain. So they sought out Maussan and cooperated with his investigation.

With the video has come a new dose of respect, Maussan said.

That could counter attacks on Maussan's credibility by Mexican scientists and
even UFO buffs in other countries. While he is a darling among some in the UFO
field, he is also considered one of the worst hucksters by scientists and
skeptics, believers and nonbelievers, many of whom have their own Web sites.

UFO Watchdog, which is much more interested in debunking UFO theories than
searching for proof of extraterrestrial life, is one. A Chile-based Web site,
"La Nave de los Locos" or "Ship of the Crazy," likewise is dedicated to
debunking UFO stories and the people who make money off them.

Both sites suggest that Maussan accepts any and all UFO stories and repeats them
- with little or no skepticism - to make money. The Web site UFO Watchdog has
placed Maussan in its "UFO Hall of Shame," alleging that the longtime
journalist is a "promoter and supporter of various UFO hoaxes."

Maussan, 51, acknowledges that there are bogus UFO stories, but he said his new
military-filmed video is bulletproof.

"This is a watershed," he said of the video, which was broadcast worldwide in
May and was the top story on Mexico's nightly news. In the history of UFOs,
"there is a before, and there is an after," Maussan said in the dramatic tone
that has made him a mainstream entertainer and global UFO "expert."

The video also may be a watershed in Maussan's career.

He used it on the June 13 debut episode of his two-hour weekly TV show, "Great
Mysteries of the Third Millennium," which is broadcast live from his own
studio.

On the show, air force pilots described their surprise at coming across luminous
objects while looking for drug traffickers in the lower Gulf of Mexico on March
5.

Some of the objects showed up on radar, the pilots said, meaning they had mass.
Others showed up on an infrared camera, meaning they emitted heat. During the
incident, the pilots expressed surprise and even concern that they were being
surrounded.

At one point, one soldier says with nervous laughter, "We are not alone."

National Defense Minister Ricardo Clemente Vega Garcia said the video was given
to Maussan largely because the defense ministry was unaware of anyone else who
actively studied the subject in Mexico.

"There are more copies for those scientists who want to see it, only we don't
know them," Vega said. He added that the military had no opinion on what the
shiny objects might be and had never used words like "UFO" or "flying saucer"
to describe them.

Since President Vicente Fox became the first politician from an opposition party
to hold that office in seven decades, the notoriously closed military has been
somewhat more open.

Maussan, who dresses casually and exudes sincerity, said he is a skeptical
journalist who simply presents the evidence.

He cites his credentials as the former host of the investigative news show "60
Minutos," which is unrelated to the popular U.S. TV news magazine "60 Minutes,"
and a long list of awards and achievements.

Maussan is also a believer who said he has had contact with "entities." The
experience, he said, was shared by half a dozen people and came in the early
years of his UFO investigations.

"For me, it was something very important. It convinced me that this phenomenon
is real and that it's just a matter of time. The most natural logic indicates
that this universe must be full of intelligent life forms, and it's very likely
that they are more intelligent than us and can reach our planet," he said.

Maussan said he did not want to go into the details of his personal experiences
because that would make him, rather than his journalistic work, the focus of
attention.

"We are talking about the most important story in history," he said. "When you
accept that intelligent entities of unknown origin exist in our world, it
changes everything."

While Maussan said he is not rich, his unique home in a wooded area of Mexico
City features underground bedrooms, connecting tunnels and ongoing
construction.

An above-ground nook is carved from a single tree and resembles a pointy
spaceship. But there are few other UFO knickknacks, and his two young children
don't seem particularly interested in the topic. Maussan said his wife used to
be a skeptic, too.

To be sure, scientists from Mexico and elsewhere are loudly skeptical of this
latest video. The usual explanations - weather phenomena, offshore oil rigs,
highway lights - have been suggested.

UFO believers are unmoved and remain elated about the rare military openness.

An admitted workaholic, Maussan holds twice-a-week conferences around Mexico at
$20 per attendee, and he had his first in-person sessions in the U.S. on June
25 and 26, in Los Angeles.

He is a regular guest on U.S. Spanish-language programs such as the talk show
"Cristina." His own TV show can be seen by U.S. viewers via streamed Internet.

"Many people ask me why the video was given to me," Maussan said from his
downtown Mexico City office, which is sprinkled with a few UFO knickknacks.
"Because of 13 years of presenting this type of evidence. For the scientists,
this was an offense. But for the people, this was absolutely natural.

"The scientists," he added, "would have explained it away and guarded it in a
drawer so that no one could see it."