{"type":"programs","slug":"1977-operation-prato","title":"Operation Prato","url":"https://disclosdex.com/programs/1977-operation-prato","description":"Brazilian Air Force field investigation of Colares and Para luminous-object reports during the 1977 chupa-chupa flap","date":"1977-10-20T00:00:00.000Z","tags":["Brazil"],"updated":"2026-05-05T00:00:00.000Z","connectionCount":1,"content":{"markdown":"Operation Prato, or Operacao Prato, was a Brazilian Air Force field investigation run through the First Regional Air Command, I COMAR, after reports of luminous bodies and alleged beam injuries spread through Colares, Vigia, Baia do Sol, Mosqueiro, and other communities in Para during 1977.[^1][^3][^8] The operation sits between a local panic known as chupa-chupa and a formal military record set: residents, clergy, doctors, journalists, intelligence officers, and Air Force personnel all became part of the documentary trail.[^3][^8][^9]\n\nThe strongest official spine is archival rather than explanatory. The Arquivo Nacional identifies its OVNI fund, BR DFANBSB ARX, as material produced by the Comando da Aeronautica and composed of reports, questionnaires, correspondence, photographs, drawings, videos, audio, and press clippings on unidentified objects seen over Brazil.[^1] A separate Arquivo Nacional notice says the public collection can be consulted through SIAN, while a Ministry of Justice notice describes the same UFO holdings as one of SIAN's most accessed record groups.[^1][^2]\n\n## Origin and Mandate\n\nThe immediate trigger was the Amazon-coast wave of reports in which people described lights, \"corpos luminosos\", and beams associated with fear, illness, burns, or puncture marks.[^8][^9] Near-primary document inventories place the first mission from 20 October to 11 November 1977, followed by a second mission from late November into early December and later monitoring during 1978.[^8]\n\nI COMAR's February 1979 forwarding memo gives the clearest official mandate after the fact. Brigadier Protasio Lopes de Oliveira sent the Chief of the Air Staff a collector folder containing 130 records of OVNI observations from 2 September 1977 through 28 November 1978, catalogued by I COMAR's Second Section.[^3] That memo frames Operation Prato less as a public-facing scientific program than as a regional intelligence and reporting effort feeding the Estado-Maior da Aeronautica.[^3]\n\n## Field Organization\n\nThe investigation is most closely associated with Captain Uyrange Bolivar Soares Nogueira de Hollanda Lima, but the surviving record points to a broader I COMAR/A2 field apparatus involving Second Section personnel, military informants, civilian witnesses, and other intelligence channels.[^3][^8][^9] The document guide maintained by Operation Prato researchers separates the available corpus into official FAB/CENDOC records, SNI/GSI records, and leaked mission reports, which is a useful caution because not every widely circulated page has the same custody history.[^8]\n\nThe official and near-primary files show a field method built around witness interviews, location checks, sketches, observation logs, press monitoring, and later tabulation.[^3][^4][^8] The military files also preserve the social setting of the case: isolated river and island communities, heavy press amplification, frightened residents, and local authorities seeking help from military institutions.[^8][^9]\n\n## Records and Evidence\n\n| Record set                                  | Status                                               | Historical value                                                                                                              |\n| ------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| ARX 197, I COMAR forwarding memo            | Official SIAN/FAB-CENDOC record                      | Confirms the 130-record package, the 2 September 1977 to 28 November 1978 span, and I COMAR Second Section custody.[^3]       |\n| ARX 184, Registros de Observacoes de OVNI   | Official SIAN/FAB-CENDOC record                      | Preserves the summarized observation series, sketches, and supporting material for the I COMAR record package.[^4][^8]        |\n| ARX 322, I COMAR leak inquiry               | Official SIAN/FAB-CENDOC record                      | Documents Air Force concern after parts of the first-mission record appeared in UFO Documento in 1991.[^5][^8]                |\n| SNI/GSI dossier                             | Released intelligence file outside the SIAN ARX path | Adds a parallel intelligence view from the SNI Belem channel and corroborates parts of the mission-report tradition.[^8][^9]  |\n| Leaked mission reports and later interviews | Mixed custody                                        | Supply tactical narrative and personal recollection, but require cross-checking against the official ARX and SNI records.[^8] |\n\nThe declassified official record does not settle what caused the luminous-object reports. It does, however, establish that the Air Force treated the flap as serious enough to collect a structured file, continue monitoring into 1978, and preserve a large record package in the national archive system.[^1][^3][^4]\n\n## Timeline\n\n| Date               | Event                                                                                                                                                                                |\n| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |\n| 2 Sep 1977         | Earliest observation date included in the I COMAR package later sent to EMAER.[^3]                                                                                                   |\n| Oct 1977           | Colares-region reports intensify, with local accounts of chupa-chupa lights and injuries entering press and intelligence channels.[^8][^9]                                           |\n| 20 Oct-11 Nov 1977 | First mission period identified in the released and leaked document complex.[^8]                                                                                                     |\n| 25 Nov-5 Dec 1977  | Second mission period identified by Operation Prato document researchers.[^8]                                                                                                        |\n| 28 Nov 1978        | Latest observation date included in the 130-record I COMAR package.[^3]                                                                                                              |\n| 14 Feb 1979        | I COMAR commander Protasio Lopes de Oliveira forwards the 130 records to the Air Staff.[^3]                                                                                          |\n| 1991               | UFO Documento publishes first-mission pages, prompting an I COMAR leak inquiry preserved as ARX 322.[^5][^8]                                                                         |\n| 2008-2009          | Brazilian disclosure pressure and transfers bring UFO records into Arquivo Nacional custody and public consultation through SIAN.[^1][^2][^8]                                        |\n| 2012               | CMRI appeals seek Operation Prato reports, images, and films; the decisions uphold responses pointing requesters to Arquivo Nacional holdings or existing available records.[^6][^7] |\n\n## Findings and Cautions\n\nOperation Prato is historically important because it was a real military field investigation of a civilian UAP flap, not merely a later ufological reconstruction.[^3][^4][^8] Its official record supports the existence of a structured I COMAR investigation, a 130-entry observation register, and long-running official custody through FAB-CENDOC and Arquivo Nacional.[^1][^3][^4]\n\nThe evidence is uneven beyond that point. Claims about photographs, films, injuries, extraordinary performance, and nonhuman interpretation come through a layered record of official summaries, intelligence files, leaked reports, press coverage, and later interviews.[^6][^7][^8] The CMRI decisions are especially important because they show that later citizens asked for the original report, photos, images, and films, while Brazilian authorities answered that available OVNI material had been sent to the Arquivo Nacional or that the requested items were not held in the form described.[^6][^7]\n\nFor that reason, the best reading of Operation Prato is disciplined but open: the program is well documented as a Brazilian Air Force investigation, yet the public record remains incomplete and does not provide an official final explanation for the Colares/Para flap.[^3][^6][^7][^8]\n\n## References\n\n[^1]: [Arquivo Nacional: Conheca o fundo sobre OVNIs do Arquivo Nacional](https://www.gov.br/arquivonacional/pt-br/canais_atendimento/imprensa/noticias/conheca-o-fundo-sobre-ovnis-do-arquivo-nacional)\n\n[^2]: [Ministry of Justice and Public Security: Acervo sobre OVNIs e um dos mais visitados no Arquivo Nacional](https://www.gov.br/mj/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/acervo-sobre-ovnis-e-um-dos-mais-visitados-no-arquivo-nacional)\n\n[^3]: [I COMAR/FAB-CENDOC: Oficio 04/A2/C-0101, Remessa de registro de observacoes de OVNI, ARX 197, SIAN PDF](https://imagem.sian.an.gov.br/acervo/derivadas/BR_DFANBSB_ARX/0/0/0197/BR_DFANBSB_ARX_0_0_0197_d0001de0001.pdf)\n\n[^4]: [I COMAR/FAB-CENDOC: Registros de Observacoes de OVNI, ARX 184, SIAN PDF part 9](https://imagem.sian.an.gov.br/acervo/derivadas/BR_DFANBSB_ARX/0/0/0184/BR_DFANBSB_ARX_0_0_0184_d0001de0009.pdf)\n\n[^5]: [I COMAR/FAB-CENDOC: Informacao 075/91/SI/I COMAR, ARX 322, SIAN PDF](https://imagem.sian.an.gov.br/acervo/derivadas/BR_DFANBSB_ARX/0/0/0322/BR_DFANBSB_ARX_0_0_0322_d0001de0001.pdf)\n\n[^6]: [Casa Civil CMRI: Decisao 0034/2012, NUP 60502.000031/2012-83, Operacao Prato report, photos, and films request](https://www.gov.br/casacivil/pt-br/assuntos/colegiados/comissao-mista-de-reavaliacao-de-informacoes-cmri/decisoes-de-recurso-de-4a-instancia/2012/decisao-0034-60502-000031-2012-83.pdf)\n\n[^7]: [Casa Civil CMRI: Decisao 0035/2012, NUP 60502.000774/2012-53, Operacao Prato reports, videos, images, and documents request](https://www.gov.br/casacivil/pt-br/assuntos/colegiados/comissao-mista-de-reavaliacao-de-informacoes-cmri/decisoes-de-recurso-de-4a-instancia/2012/decisao-0035-60502-000774-2012-53.pdf)\n\n[^8]: [OperacaoPrato.com: Documentos Oficiais Liberados e Vazados sobre a Operacao Prato](https://operacaoprato.com/documentos-oficiais)\n\n[^9]: [SNI/GSI mirror via UOL: 1977 Operacao Prato SNI dossier PDF](http://download.uol.com.br/fernandorodrigues/ovnis/1977-OperacaoPrato-SNI.pdf)","readingTime":"6 min read"},"relatedRecords":[{"ref":{"type":"updates","slug":"2026-historical-corpus-expansion","title":"Historical corpus expansion and dossier deepening","url":"https://disclosdex.com/updates/2026-historical-corpus-expansion"},"direction":"inbound","weight":1}],"citation":{"canonicalUrl":"https://disclosdex.com/programs/1977-operation-prato","title":"Operation Prato","publisher":"Disclosdex","retrievedFrom":"https://disclosdex.com/api/v1/programs/1977-operation-prato","license":"CC-BY-4.0"}}