Peru has launched a criminal probe into how alleged “non-human alien corpses” that were displayed to the Mexican Congress were taken out of the country.
Self-described UFO expert Jaime Maussan claimed the two small “corpses” were retrieved from Cusco, Peru. They were presented in windowed boxes in Mexico City on Wednesday, stirring excitement within the UFO conspiracy-theorist community.
Peruvian officials have questioned Mr Maussan’s claims and said they are looking into how the corpses came into his possession.
Culture minister Leslie Urteaga said they were looking into how the “pre-hispanic” bodies left Peru, adding that a criminal complaint has been filed against Mr Maussan.
Mr Maussan, 70, insists he is innocent. “I’m not worried. I have done absolutely nothing illegal”, he said.
The 70-year-old has not been able to explain how the corpses came into his possession. He said he would reveal all “at an appropriate time.”
Doctors in Mexico City are carrying out CT scans on the corpses. Jose de Jesus Zalce Benitez, director of the Scientific Institute for Health of the Mexican navy, said the studies showed that the alleged bodies belonged to a single skeleton and were not assembled.
He added that the laboratory tests have shown that “there is no evidence of any assembly or manipulation of the skulls”.
Mr Maussan claimed, under oath, at the Mexican congress that the mummified specimens are not part of “our terrestrial evolution”, with almost a third of their DNA remaining “unknown”, reported Mexican media.
His claims have not been proven and he has previously been associated with claims of discoveries that have later been debunked.
Mr Maussan claimed the remains are about 1,000 years old, saying researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico used carbon dating to determine the age of the corpses.
Self-described UFO expert Jaime Maussan claimed the two small “corpses” were retrieved from Cusco, Peru— (Reuters)
The university has distanced itself from Mr Maussan, claiming its scientists were not involved in the research and never came into contact with the full specimens.
“In no case do we make conclusions about the origin of these samples,” the university’s National Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry With Accelerators said in a statement.
At the public hearing, Mr Maussan showed US officials and members of the Mexican government several videos of “UFOs and unidentified anomalous phenomena” before unveiling the alleged alien corpses.
He said: “These specimen(s) are not part of our terrestrial evolution... These aren’t beings that were found after a UFO wreckage. They were found in diatom (algae) mines, and were later fossilized.”
“Whether they are aliens or not, we don’t know, but they were intelligent and they lived with us. They should rewrite history.”
He added: “We are not alone in this vast universe, we should embrace this reality.”
Mr Maussan also told the Mexican Congress how scientists from the Autonomous National University of Mexico found “eggs” in one of the corpses.
The 70-year-old has previously been associated with claims of “alien” discoveries that have later been debunked, including five mummies found in Peru in 2017 that were later shown to be human children.
Former US Navy pilot Ryan Graves, who also attended the hearing to share his personal experience with sightings of “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP) heaped criticism on the presentation.
“Yesterday’s demonstration was a huge step backwards for this issue,” Mr Graves said on the X, formerly known as Twitter. “I am deeply disappointed by this unsubstantiated stunt.”
Meanwhile, Antígona Segura, one of Mexico’s top astrobiologists, told The New York Times: “These conclusions are simply not backed up by evidence. The whole thing is very shameful.”
