Operação Prato, 1977–1978: The Air Force Mission to Colares

In mid-1977, fishing communities on the island of Colares, at the mouth of the Pará River, said they were being hunted by lights. Locals called them chupa-chupa (“sucker”): beams from the sky that left people weak, with small marks on the skin. Some families stayed indoors and lit bonfires at night. The local doctor reported treating people who said they had been hit.

The Air Force goes in

Responding to the panic, the Brazilian Air Force’s regional command in Belém sent a small intelligence team under Captain Uyrangê Hollanda. Through late 1977 they kept watch, took photographs and filed reports describing lights over the water and the forest. The operation was wound down by early 1978.

The paper trail

Brazil’s Air Force later handed its UFO material to the National Archives, and the Prato reports became public in 2008–09. They show that sightings were made and taken seriously; they do not show what caused them. Hollanda gave a dramatic interview in 1997 and died shortly afterwards, which fed the legend.

Ledger status

Marked open. Official records confirm the investigation and sightings; the cause and the injury claims are unexplained.

Sources

• Arquivo Nacional, SIAN (Sistema de Informações do Arquivo Nacional), Aeronáutica UFO records — sian.an.gov.br
• Wikipedia, “Operação Prato” — en.wikipedia.org

Part of the World Ledger, batch 1. Original text; no images are used.