Did the shots hit the flying saucers?
No.
What was the outcome of your investigation? Was it possible to determine what object was that over Cindacta radars in Gama?
Well, our soldiers are very primitive. As you know, soldiers are not very educated persons and have difficulties in precisely describing what they see. But it was possible to tell from their descriptions and drawings that they had witnessed something weird. It was something with changing colors that approached them very closely. One of them asked permission to open fire and that’s how the shooting began.
All told the same story and I wrote that all down in a report which I sent to the Aeronautics Armed Forces (EMAER). I never expressed my opinion or made any guesses. The envelope I sent to EMAER contained all information I had and it was kept somewhere.
What does Captain Vieira says about it?
I lost contact with him. But recently, in a medical appointment I met a familiar face who asked me if I still remembered. Before I could answer, the person smiled and said, “I am Vieira, Captain from Cindacta in Gama”. Of course I remembered, although many people had served under my command. “Vieira of the flying saucer?”, I said. “That’s me”, he replied. The funny thing is that it happened this week, only a few days before this interview. That was such a coincidence because I haven’t seen him for the last 20 years or so. I even told him about our interview and asked if he would also talk and he agreed, “Tell them to call me” [His interview will be done in a few weeks].
Do you have any other case to tell?
Yes. There is another story from a doctor in Sao Paulo. I had to undergo a medical procedure called cinecoronoriography which is basically the ingestion of contrasts in order to visualize whether arteries are open or blocked. I didn’t want to do that in Rio, so I went to Sao Paulo to be examined at Hospital Sirio Libanes whose directors I know. I had helped them with problems regarding the clearance of equipment withheld by Infraero. They imported machines for medical examination, but didn’t have the money to collect them at the customs. So we entered an agreement: I would authorize the clearance provided that they offer free treatment to a number of poor people. And so we did. They performed well their part in the deal.
Then how about the story you have to tell us?
The day following my exams many doctors came to my room to thank me for that agreement and so we talked. When most of them had left, one stood in the room and started a chat about UFOs. I don’t remember his name, but he was very straight to the point, “Brigadier, can I ask you a question?” I said yes and he went on to say, “Do you believe in UFOs?” I was surprised and said, “Ah, doctor, that’s a very common question. I don’t know whether they exist or not, people believe what they want to believe”. So he told me he was from a countryside town in the state of Sao Paulo and had witnessed something there by 02h00 from the balcony of his hotel room, “It was a huge thing simply descending at the city’s square”. I asked what huge thing was that and he replied straight away, “It was a flying saucer!” Then he looked for my advice on what to do and asked if he could tell his story. I told him yes, he could do as he pleased, but I didn’t want to make any comments. He described the object and said to be close to it, no more than 30 meters away. I was impressed by his assertiveness and his will to state that what he saw was a flying saucer. I have never met him again and do not even know if he is still at the Hospital.
Have you heard of any cases regarding UFOs escorting airplanes?
Yes, sometimes Cindacta radars spot strange things. For example, pilots flying Brasilia-Sao Paulo route used to report sightings of lights following their aircraft. We used to make them the usual questions such as the duration of the event, the altitude of the objects, things like that. Our questions over the radio aimed to get more details on what they were claiming to have seen. Then we reported everything back to the Aeronautics without expressing an opinion, which was the recommended procedure.
The procedure of reporting to EMAER was an established guideline or was it done at your own will?
Well, actually we did like that because we didn’t know what else to do. And we didn’t express any opinion because we also didn’t know what to say. If I told them I’d seen a flying saucer, they [EMBAER officers] would ask me to describe it and I couldn’t describe anything, since they were all dots on the radar screen. So I only used to say, “Look, there’s a light here spotted by the radar. I’ll call it an ‘electronic anomaly’”. That was always the name I used to give to those phenomena, as I didn’t have a better definition to give.
Are there any cases involving pilots and UFOs that you could tell us?
Some colleagues had told me about lights which changed colors and followed their aircraft. The lights seemed to come and go suddenly and at incredible speed. I heard many of these stories and researched about some as I’m a curious person. For example, I learned from the USAF’s Blue Book project that many pilots were followed by anomalies. Some of them even lost their lives, such as the case with Thomas Mantell, in January 1948. He disappeared after intercepting an undetected UFO. His aircraft was found in wrecks a few kilometers beyond the point in which he lost radar contact. Some people don’t believe it, some others do. Some people believe these are merely meteorological phenomena. As for myself, I believe that anything is possible.
Brigadier, as you know, the Brazilian Committee of Ufologists (CBU) launched a campaign five years ago aiming to have an official disclosure of government archives. The campaign UFOs: Liberdade de Informação has already achieved good results. On 20 May 2005, we were even invited by the Air Force commander, Luiz Carlos da Silva Bueno, to go to Brasilia and visit Cindacta and Comdabra facilities.
Yes, I know. You were received by Brigadier Atheneu Azambuja and were allowed to see some documents in a room.
Yes, but the authorization was only to see those documents. We were not allowed to copy any of them. That is why the campaign still goes on. After a successful beginning we want to move further. In 2008, the government finally started to release some files. Those were classified documents and we would like to show them to you.
I am aware that some papers are being disclosed.
Right, and among them there are files concerning Operação Prato, an operation carried out in the Amazon, in 1977, under Colonel Uyrange Hollanda.
At the time he was a Captain, then was promoted to the rank of Colonel. Among the documents, there are some from the defunct National Information Service (SNI), which we did not even know about.
As I can see, you’ve probably had access do documents from EMAER, who starts to disclose their archives. As a Cindacta commander, I sent alone 25 UFO sighting statements which must remain there till this day.
Were you ever aware of the involvement of the SNI in cases such as Operação Prato or any other UFO sightings in Brazil?
No. I knew only about EMAER.
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