Operação Prato

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Operation Saucer (Portuguese: Operação Prato; literally, Operation Plate) was an investigation carried out between 1977 and 1978 by the Brazilian Air Force following alleged UFO sightings in the city of Colares. The investigation was closed after finding no unusual phenomena.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Operation Prato emerged within a broader context, where a large wave of UFO observations was being reported from the Baixada Maranhense to the border with the state of Pará, in the region of the Rio Gurupi and the Pará city of Viseu. The wave traveled the coast of Pará, reaching Baia do Marajó and the capital Belém in October. During the displacement of the UFO phenomenon, there was wide coverage by the press, radio and television, which reported stories of traumatic encounters of these objects with inhabitants of towns and villages, which caused enormous terror among the local populations. The epicenter of the ufologic wave is related to a strange incident with some fishermen in late April 1977, on Ilha dos Caranguejos in Maranhão, with one fatality and another seriously injured. This wave that emerged in Maranhão was also accompanied by another military intelligence service subordinated to the 4th Naval District of the Brazilian Navy, which produced intelligence reports without a specific military operation to investigate the phenomenon having been mounted. The extinct National Information Service – SNI and the Aeronautics Security Information Center – CISA, were also involved in the investigations.

History

Precedent events

Case Ilha dos Caranguejos: is located in the bay of São Marcos, Maranhão, close to the capital São Luís. It is uninhabited and subject to flooding by the tides.

On April 25, 1977, four men went to Ilha dos Caranguejos by boat to collect wood. After collection, due to the tides, they would have to wait until midnight for the tide to rise again and the boat could navigate. Around 20:00 they went to sleep. One of them, Apolinário, woke up at 5 am and soon went to help Auleriano and Firmino, both complaining of pain. They had second-degree burns. The fourth man, Joseph, lying in the hammock, was dead. Apolinario took them to the mainland. The Maranhão police investigated the case and never reached a conclusion. The three survivors never remembered the events of that morning, even after regressive hypnosis by doctor Sílvio Lago. The only reference to the cause of the tragedy was attributed to one of the survivors who reportedly told one of the doctors at the hospital where he was treated that he "saw a fire", then fainting.

The Instituto Médico Legal do Maranhão determined the death of José due to arterial hypertension, causing a stroke, due to emotional shock. Two hypotheses emerged at the time to explain the case: some type of electrical discharge from an atmospheric phenomenon, such as lightning, defended by doctors and police officers, or the deadly action of flying lights, the famous flying saucers. [6]

In 1977, numerous UFOs were reported in the Brazilian city of Colares, Pará. Local residents claimed that scars on their bodies were caused by the lights in the sky, and named the lights "Chupa Chupa"[3] (literally Sucker-Sucker).[7] Believing it would keep the lights away, residents of Colares organized night vigils,[2] lit fires, and ignited fireworks.[4] Mayor José Ildone Favacho Soeiro requested help from the Air Force.[8]

The Operation

The operation was commanded by Captain Uyrangê Bolivar Soares Nogueira de Hollanda Lima.[3] During late 1977, several pictures of lights were recorded but the military remained skeptical.[2][3] After approximately four months, the operation was closed after finding no unusual phenomena.[1] The official documents can be obtained from the Brazilian National Archives (Arquivo Nacional).[9]

The objects observed in military records received the nickname of luminous bodies and were associated with phenomena reported by residents and authorities, reported by the local press, which reported alleged attacks on the population. The phenomenon was known by the name "chupa-chupa". Between October and December 1977, two missions were carried out by intelligence agents from the intelligence service and by a military medical team from I COMAR. The operation would have officially ended at the end of December 1977, but official documents indicate that other missions with specific purpose related to the investigation of UFOs were carried out during the year 1978.

The documental collection of Operation Prato is composed of official documents released by the Brazilian Air Force - FAB, documents from the National Information Service - SNI released by the Institutional Security Office of the Presidency of the Republic - GSI, all under the custody of the National Archives, and hundreds of pages of documents, such as reports and photographic images, leaked to the public mainly in the 80s and 90s of the last century and more recently in 2017.

Conspiracy theories

In 1997, two decades after the operation, Captain Uyrangê gave an interview to Ufologists Ademar José Gevaerd and Marco Antônio Petit where he recounted his experiences living alongside his men. Three months after the interview, he was found dead in his home "after he seemingly hung himself using the belt of his bathrobe", attracting the interest of conspiracy theorists.[10][11]

UFOlogists

According to ufologist Jacques Vallée, a number of individuals were reportedly killed as a result of the "lights" fired upon them by the UFOs, and injuries were consistent with radiation effects from microwaves.[12] Other ufologists claimed that the lights from UFOs sucked blood from 400 people.[3][4][6][11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b EFE (10 August 2010). "FAB cria normas para pilotos em caso de contato com ovnis". Terra (in Portuguese). Telefónica. Retrieved 13 December 2013. English translation
  2. ^ a b c Rodrigues, Fernando (11 January 2009). "SNI investigou óvnis durante a ditadura" [SNI investigated UFOs during the dictatorship]. Folha de S. Paulo (in Portuguese). 29138. Brasília: Grupo Folha: A10–A11. Retrieved 13 December 2013. English translation
  3. ^ a b c d e Cardoso, Rodrigo (22 July 2013). "A história oficial dos ÓVNIS no Brasil". ISTOÉ (in Portuguese). Editora Três. Retrieved 17 December 2013. English translation
  4. ^ a b c Abbud, Bruno (24 January 2011). "Objetos voadores quase identificados". Veja.com (in Portuguese). Grupo Abril. Retrieved 17 December 2013. English translation
  5. ^ Charleaux, João Paulo (17 December 2013). "No princípio era um chuchu". piauí (in Portuguese). São Paulo: Editora Alvinegra. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  6. ^ a b c Dantas, Pedro (14 August 2010). "Aeronáutica libera documentos sobre aparição de óvnis". O Estado de S. Paulo (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Grupo Estado. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  7. ^ "Operação Prato". Linha Direta (in Portuguese). Rede Globo. 25 August 2005. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  8. ^ "José Ildone Favacho Soeiro". Linha Direta (in Portuguese). Rede Globo. 25 August 2005. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  9. ^ "Information System of the National Archive". National Archives - Brasil. Ministry of Justice and Citizenship. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  10. ^ "Uyrangê Bolívar Soares de Hollanda Lima". Linha Direta (in Portuguese). Rede Globo. 25 August 2005. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  11. ^ a b Wells, Andy. "Operation Saucer: The Official Search For UFOs That Attacked Brazilians With 'Light Beams' In 1977". Yahoo News. Yahoo. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  12. ^ Confrontations – A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact (hardcover ed.), Jacques Vallée. Ballantine Books. March 1990. Page 134. ISBN 0-345-36453-8
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