Brazil Releases Files of 1977 UFO Flap

Brazil recently declassified security files pertaining to Operation Saucer, a top-secret investigation by the Fuerza Aerea Brasileira into the 1977 UFO flap in the northern state of Para.

“During the months of October, November and December 1977 and the first half of 1978, the Brazilian state of Para had been invaded by UFOs,” the newspaper O Liberal reported, “And it wasn’t simply sightings. Nothing to do with mysterious lights wandering at high altitudes. It was about bright objects in several shapes and sizes flying over the Baia de Marajo region at low altitudes, a few meters above the trees and firing strange light beams at people.”

“The people harmed by the phenomenon–one of the most important in world ufology–gave several names to the bright and silent objects–vampire lights, bugs, the thing, and simply chupa-chupa (Portuguese for the sucker– J.T.)”

Witnesses “said the object’s pilots were no more than 1.2 to 1.3 meters (3 feet, eight inches to four feet) high.”

“The people called it chupa-chupa because of the neck scars that some of the witnesses bore on their bodies. The light beams used to leave strange marks on their skin. Among many, the scars were on their heads. They seemed to lose blood during the attacks.”

“Men and women complained of giddiness and fatigue after the attacks. The inhabitants of the cities of Colares, Santo Antonio de Tauca, Mosqueiro and Baia do Sul pondered on those days of bitter remembrance. The panic even reached the state’s capital, Belem, with a sequence of strange lights reports and chupa-chupa attacks in several quarters of the city.”

“The military report, called Operation Saucer, holds 2,000 pages, 500 photographs and 16 hours of (movie) film. It was sent to the leading officers of the Brazilian Air Force. At that time, however, the country was under a dictatorship and, because of this, the documents were classified Top Secret for 23 years. The Servicio Nacional da Informacoes (SNI) and the FAB Special Services Unit lobbied hard to keep the report classified.”

FAB Capt. Uyrange Hollanda gave an interview to Adelmar J. Gevaerd, editor of the Brazilian monthly magazine Revista UFO. describing many of the cases investigated by Operation Saucer. Capt. Hollanda “was the operations commander sent by the (Brazilian) government to investigate the facts and interview the chupa-chupa witnesses.”

“One of the most interesting reports came from Claudomira Paixao of Baia do Sul. ‘On the night of October 18, 1977,’ Claudomira “woke up when a strange light appeared through the house’s window. The air got warmer. At first the light was green. It touched my head and covered my face. I woke up completely, and the light became red. I could see a creature, like a man, wearing something like a diver’s clothes. It held a device like a pistol. It aimed at me, and the (pistol-like) object blinked three times, as if shooting at my breast, almost landing at the same place. It was hot and hurt me. I felt like some needles were piercing me. I think they collected my blood. I was terrified. I couldn’t even move my lips. I was shocked.'”

“Also in Baia do Sul, witnesses ‘were talking about the appearance of a space couple that shot at a woman with a light-beam pistol, leaving her fainted for several minutes.'”

“Capt. Hollanda recalled, ‘We always told them, ‘Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!’ But once, a strange light had been aimed at a carpenter. The man was 50 or 60 years old. He took his rifle and shot at the flying saucer. The light surrounded him, and he fell to the ground, almost paralyzed. For 15 days, the carpenter could barely move. On the first day, that man didn’t move at all. He could see, hear and speak. But it was very difficult for him to move.'”

“A Colares fisherman also saw UFOs coming in and out of the waters of Baia de Marajo (bay). Sometimes they could see the bluish light moving under the water.”

“‘Once I was sleeping when the sergeants–members of the (FAB) operation–told me they had just taken a photograph of a flying saucer diving into the water close to a fishing boat. I went to the dock and waited for the fisherman. When he came back, he told me what had happened. He was terrified,'” the captain said.

“‘Several weeks later, I saw a light close to a fishing boat. It was blue and circled the boat, covering about 300 meters (1,000 feet). Then it dived into the water. There wasn’t any sound. It was like a blade passing through the water,’ Capt. Hollanda said.”

“Operation Saucer never came to an end. The FAB cancelled the research” in June 1978 “without any explanation.”

Following his interview with Revista UFO in 1997, Capt. Hollanda “was found hanged with his own bathrobe belt on the second floor of his house by his daughter.”