Sighting record / 1998
1998. The sky over Crucita beach, on the coast of Manabí, Ecuador. Maj. Leonidas Enríquez of the Ecuadorian Air Force was flying a mission at about 5,000 feet. Two bright objects appeared. They were rhomboid in shape. They came close to his aircraft and stayed there. He radioed the control tower. Was there any traffic? The answer was no. When he moved toward them, the objects changed course abruptly and slipped behind the Crucita hills. "I followed them, but they disappeared very quickly." His story survives through one ufologist, Jaime Rodríguez. It became a cornerstone of a larger legend: an alien base beneath the sea off Crucita.
From 2005 to 2007, Ecuador had a commission for the unexplained. The Comisión Ecuatoriana para la Investigación del Fenómeno OVNI, known as CEIFO, was led by ufologist Jaime Rodríguez. It reportedly had access to Defence Secretariat archives holding 412 photo and video items. Only 44 were analysed. Rodríguez says President Rafael Correa authorised declassification on 25 June 2007. Among the material he later shared was the testimony of a pilot of the Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana.