Between October and December 1977, residents of Vigia, Colares and Santo Antônio do Tauá, on Marajó Bay in northern Brazil, reported an unusual sequence of nighttime lights over the region. The Brazilian Air Force responded with a formal two-phase operation, commanded by Brigadier Protásio Lopes de Oliveira and coordinated on the ground by Captain Uyrangê Hollanda, gathering civilian statements, photographs and occurrence forms. Unlike most cases in this archive, here the existence of the investigation itself has never been disputed: the complete documentary fund — 758 items including reports, photos, press clippings, videos and audio produced by the Air Force between 1964 and 1985 — is today digitized and publicly available at Brazil's National Archive. What remains open is the physical origin of the reported phenomena; much of the popular narrative that circulates about the case was built decades later, without relying directly on that archive.
What happened, in a few lines, with no interpretation built in.
UFO fund at Brazil's National Archive (SIAN system)
758 digitized documents — reports, statements, photos, forms, press clippings, videos and audio — produced by the Brazilian Air Force between 1964 and 1985, including material from Operation Saucer.
Origin: Arquivo Nacional (Brazil's National Archive)
Not hosted here due to copyright — see original source →Residents of Vigia, Colares and Santo Antônio do Tauá
- WHEN STATED
- During the operation's two phases (Oct–Dec 1977)
- TIME AFTER THE EVENT
- Variable — some accounts were collected during the operation itself
- EXISTING VERSIONS
- Civilian accounts and the military operation's own records do not always agree in detail
- OTHER WITNESSES
- Multiple, collected over the months of the operation
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Oct 20–Nov 11, 1977
First phase of the operation, under I COMAR command.
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Nov 25–Dec 5, 1977
Second phase of the operation.
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2012
A joint review commission confirms the archive's transfer to Brazil's National Archive.
All in the same field of evaluation. None wins by default.
The operation itself is a documented fact, commanded by Brigadier Protásio Lopes de Oliveira, with Captain Uyrangê Hollanda coordinating on the ground.
Some civilian accounts are consistent with unidentified luminous phenomena, with no period instrumental analysis available to allow a confident classification today.
Often associated with the case in popular culture, but the available documents prove the investigation took place, not the origin of the phenomena reported.
- The existence of the operation is a fact; the popular interpretation of what it investigated (and what it supposedly concluded) often goes beyond what the documents state.
- Much of the narrative that circulates publicly about the case was built decades later, without relying directly on the National Archive's documentary fund.
- The Brazilian Air Force conducted a formal two-phase operation between October and December 1977.
- 758 documents from that period are preserved, digitized and publicly accessible at Brazil's National Archive.
- The physical origin of the phenomena that prompted the operation.
- The full content of every document in the fund, which requires direct research in the archive.
- A systematic review of the complete documentary fund (SIAN, National Archive).
- Cross-referencing the civilian accounts collected at the time against the operation's official records.
Documentaries, interviews and coverage about the case. A third-party video is not evidence of the case — it's context material.
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O.V.N.I.S. (Disco Voador) — Operação Prato, Aparição/Colares Amazônia — Fantástico
Brazilian TV news report (Fantástico) on the light sightings and Operation Saucer in Colares, Pará.
Watch on YouTube ↗- Institutional source Arquivo Nacional — Que República é Essa: os OVNIs no Arquivo Nacional
- Institutional source Brazilian Ministry of Justice — UFO archive is among the most visited at the National Archive (Internet Archive copy)
- Contemporary press Correio Braziliense — National Archive releases 900 UFO records
- Background reference Wikipedia (EN) — Operação Prato
An interview or podcast is listed here as a path to a claim, never as proof of the claim.
Listed in Portuguese only. See /correcoes.
The novel uses the real setting of the region and the fact that this archive exists as the starting point for an invented investigation. What the fictional team finds there does not correspond to any real document — see the book page.
See the book page →