VARGINHA,.
“On January 20, 1996, three young women — sisters Liliane and Valquiria Fatima Silva and their friend Katia Andrade Xavier — were walking through a field in Varginha, Brazil when they encountered a strange creature crouched near a wall.”
What followed was a dramatic multi-day operation. Brazilian military units descended on Varginha in force, with witnesses reporting military trucks carrying covered crates. Local hospital staff later reported treating a creature with similar characteristics to those described by the three women. Military policeman Marco Chereze reportedly died of a mysterious infection weeks after allegedly handling one of the captured beings — a claim disputed by officials.
MUFON Brazil director A.J. Gevaerd spent years investigating the case and building a body of evidence that includes dozens of consistent witness accounts, military deployment records, and hospital staff testimony. A retired Brazilian Army general, José Afonso Cortines Laxe, later acknowledged privately that the military had conducted an operation to recover non-human beings.
The case is extraordinary because it occurred in daylight, involved multiple independent witnesses across different locations, and generated a documented military response. Brazil's military has never formally acknowledged the operation. The three women have never recanted their account in nearly 30 years.
The Varginha UFO Incident — First Brazilian TV Report + Timeline of Events (1996)
Eyes on Cinema