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BRAZILIAN AIR FORCE BEGINS DISCLOSURE ON UFOs reserved facilities of the Brazilian Airspace made during the so-called Operation Defence Command (Comando de Defesa Saucer, an official program of UFO Aérea Brasileiro, op COMDABRA), an _ investigation by the military that took place even more sensitive installation that con- from September to December 1977 and has trols the entire air defence situation in the been fully covered by specialised UFO country and surrounding areas of the _ press around the world. Atlantic Ocean and South America. In this The third case was "The Official Night facility, the UFO researchers were given a of UFOs in Brazil", a very significant full briefing on the top aspects of aerial group of events that happened in May defence of the country. 1986, when 21 objects of over 100 metres It was in this facility that its own in diameter jammed Brazilian air traffic commander, Brigadier Atheneu Azambuja, control systems over mainly Rio de admitted to the UFO researchers how Janeiro, Sao José dos Campos and Sao concerned the Brazilian military is about Paulo, and several jets were sent to inter- the UFO phenomenon. Azambuja also cept the intruders but without any success. gave details of COMDABRA procedures The Brazilian Air Force representatives and openly admitted that the country has at those meetings then admitted that systematically detected and registered ufology is serious business and they UFOs in the country—labelled as "H_ _ broadly recognised the activity of UFO traffic"—since 1954. research by the civilian UFO community. After detailed explanations of They also guaranteed that further steps COMDABRA activities, Brigadier are about to be taken to let the researchers Atheneu Azambuja gave full access for the examine the entire military UFO files in a first time to the civilian UFO researchers to more comprehensive way. examine three different folders with classi- Plus, it was promised that a committee of fied UFO information—cases from the spe- military and civilian UFO researchers cific dates of 1954, 1977 and 1986. would start operating very soon, The first case was that of an aircraft pur- coordinated by the Brazilian Committee of suit of a UFO over the ocean shores of | UFO Researchers. oo Parana State. The second file was much more (Source: By A. J. Gevaerd, Editor of UFO important. In the folder containing the Magazine, Brazil, and head of the 1977 documents that could be examined by Brazilian Committee of UFO Researchers the UFO researchers there were dozens of (CBU), posted 23 May 2005, email cases of UFOs in the Amazon, with an gevaerd@ufo.com.br, website amazing number of pictures—over 100— _http://www.ufo.com.br) IND ARCA FS From left: A. J. Gevaerd, Fernando Ramalho, Roberto Beck, Marco Petit, Rafael Cury and Claudeir Covo outside the offices of the Integrated Centre of Air Defence and Air Traffic Control (Centro Integrado de Defesa Aérea e Controle de Trafego Aéreo, or CINDACTA) after their two-hour visit. made during the so-called Operation Saucer, an official program of UFO investigation by the military that took place from September to December 1977 and has been fully covered by specialised UFO press around the world. The third case was "The Official Night of UFOs in Brazil", a very significant group of events that happened in May 1986, when 21 objects of over 100 metres in diameter jammed Brazilian air traffic control systems over mainly Rio de Janeiro, Sao José dos Campos and Sao Paulo, and several jets were sent to inter- cept the intruders but without any success. The Brazilian Air Force representatives at those meetings then admitted that ufology is serious business and they broadly recognised the activity of UFO research by the civilian UFO community. They also guaranteed that further steps are about to be taken to let the researchers examine the entire military UFO files in a more comprehensive way. Plus, it was promised that a committee of military and civilian UFO researchers would start operating very soon, coordinated by the Brazilian Committee of UFO Researchers. oo 'riday 20 May 2005 was an historic day for ufology in Brazil and in the world. The Brazilian Air Force (FAB), for the very first time in its history, officially received a committee of top UFO researchers to openly discuss sightings in the country and fully examine classified UFO documents in two separate military facilities in Brasilia, the federal capital. "We want to have all information on the subject, which has been withheld by us for some decades, fully released to the public through the UFO community," declared Brigadier Telles Ribeiro, chief of the Brazilian Air Force communication centre. The Brazilian Government, through the Brazilian Air Force, has finally decided to come forward and recognise UFO research as a genuine activity. This is a direct result of the intense pres- sure made by the campaign "UFOs: Freedom of Information Now", a move- ment started by the Brazilian UFO Magazine in April 2004. The campaign was launched by the Brazilian Committee of UFO Researchers (CBU), composed of six UFO civilian researchers: Claudeir Covo, Marco Petit, Rafael Cury, Reginaldo de Athayde, Fernando Ramalho and A. J. Gevaerd. Details of the campaign in both Portuguese and English can be consulted at websites http://www.ufo.com.br and http://www.ufo.com.br/secrecy.php. The approach of the Brazilian military to the CBU committee started last February, 10 months after the campaign began, with a phone call from a Brazilian Air Force spokesman, Major Antonio Lorenzo, and a formal invitation to a visit and a chat in some Air Force headquarters in Brasilia. Two meetings between the civilian UFO researchers and the military took place on Friday 20 May, and the first was in the headquarters of the Integrated Centre of Air Defence and Air Traffic Control (Centro Integrado de Defesa Aérea e Controle de Trafego Aéreo, or CINDACTA), a very sensitive facility. For over two hours, the researchers were given lectures on the procedures conducted at CINDACTA and had the chance to visit air traffic control rooms and understand how UFOs could be detected by Air Force personnel. The second and more important meeting took place just after this one at the very NEXUS = 63 AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2005 www.nexusmagazine.com