The Saturday that the ET capture took place, January 20th ‘96, I wasn’t in Varginha. The day after, Jan 21st, I arrived at about 10: 30 a.m. and received a call from a storekeeper who owns a shop in the center of the town, Mr. Milton. He asked if I had knowledge of what happened the day before and told me that some girls had seen a weird animal, something like a little monster.
That same night, as I realized that the rumour was already spreaded throughout the city, I called Milton again to get further details. An employee of his shop would has more information. She knew the people that had seen the strange being. The girls live at Rua Tapajós [ Tapajós Street ], Varginha, to where I went. I asked a near storekeeper if she knew the girls, she said so, adding that "she had also observed the movement around that area regarding the case". This lady said she was friend of Luisa (the girls’ mother) and that she was told the girls arrived at home scared, that afternoon. They were screaming, crying and shaking. They had seen something very ugly.
Meanwhile, the rumours continue to spread through the city. Some people said the creature was captured and taken to the "Hospital Regional" [Regional Hospital], that it had a big belly, seemed to be pregnant, and made a noise, like if it was crying.
FIRST WEEK OF INVESTIGATIONS - I began to investigate and was helped by a friend, Sergio, director of TV Princesa, a local TV station. We got access to a boy who said he was present at the capture. But his words didn’t make any sense, he was too childish, and very confused. We also got access to a woman, which runned away the moment we approached her. Her husband tried to convince her to give us some info, but she refused.
Finally, we found the girls (see picture - photo by Carlos Fenerich, Isto E' Magazine) and took their testimony. They were two sisters whose mother, Mrs.Luisa, received me a little suspicious. I identified myself as an UFO researcher and lawyer, and explained my interest in the situation. I’ve got extremely impressed with what they told me, specially the older girl, Liliane, 16. When she was telling me what happened, she burst into tears. Then, I asked them to introduce me to the third witness: her friend, Katia, 22, that also cried when we met.
I asked them to take me to the place where all had happened. They told that when they were in the middle of that pathway, they saw a strange being squatted in the ground. To Valquíria, the younger, "that appeared to be a giant ox heart". They realized that it was something out-of-this-world, when they returned to the street and went away, running.
After hearing all the story from her daughters, Luísa returned to the place to see if she could find any evidence, but she didn’t. Luísa felt a strange smell, very strong and impossible to be compared to anything else. The following days, I kept on talking to them, and asked them to repeat several times what they had seen.
AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL AT THE HOSPITAL - This procedure is common in researches, because it helps to find contradictions in the testimonies. Meanwhile, the rumours continued to spread, increase, and gained consistency in Varginha. The whole city started to comment on the story.
In Varginha, there are three hospitals, however the rumours converged only to the Regional Hospital (see picture). It wasn’t possible to be sure of anything, specially about which hospital would be involved with the fact. Everything was obscure, until I managed to talk to a nurse of Regional Hospital (which name cannot be revealed, in order to preserve her safety). She was very reluctant to receive and talk to me until, finally, she accepted to be interviewed. She revealed that, on Sunday, January 21st, a strange movement occurred at Hospital Regional. The fact involved physicians coming from out of Varginha, the Military Police and Army vehicles. However, she didn’t speak a word about the Fire Department.
One of the hospital sections, according to our source, was closed for some hours, in order to avoid the access of employees, patients and visitors. She also said that, on Monday, January 22nd, she was called, together with other employees, for a meeting at the director’s room. According to her testimony, the director said that all that movement should be ignored, because "it was just a training for the doctors and military personnel".
According to this witness, the meeting culminated with the following statement from the director: "Here in Varginha there are people who like to deal with "cool" things, I mean, supernatural, strange... It is probable that these people will look for you, especially that lawyer, Ubirajara. To these people, you must deny everything. I mean, do deny".
Later on, I spoke to a former pupil of mine, who said she was at the hospital entrance hall that Sunday, by 10: 30 p.m., together with a friend of her. She asked the receptionist if it was true what the rumours said about the "little monster" received at the hospital. The employee confirmed, saying that the being wasn’t there anymore, because it had been removed to another city's hospital, the "Humanitas". So, the women went there, too. Now, they were attended by a nurse who told them the following: "You cannot go inside to see ‘that’ and, even if you could, I wouldn’t advise you to... you wouldn’t like to see it".
The same time, some parallel witnesses, which live in the Humanitas region, said they saw troops movements at the lateral gate. This was everything I knew then. It was necessary to have stronger evidences. So I tried the military area, firstly Commander Mauricio, from the Military Police. When I met him, I identified myself and explained the situation. I asked him if he had knowledge of the rumours that the MP was involved in the capture case. His answer was negative.
He, then, offered to check it out, and verified that there were no records of such occurrence. Even thus, he asked me to contact him again, because perhaps he would find something. The next day, as it was scheduled, I called Commander Mauricio, but he didn’t attend me. I made about 50 phone calls to the quarter, but wasn’t attended. So I began to feel that something was wrong. They were hiding something.
A friend of mine managed to talk to a policewoman that was on duty at Saturday, January 20th, receiving the emergency calls, thru the number 190 [the police number]. She revealed there were some calls: "In fact, some people called saying that they saw such a little monster, but we thought they were kidding and we didn’t give attention to them".
SEEKING THE FIRE DEPARTMENT - Me and Sérgio looked for the local Fire Department and we were received by Captain Alvarenga. The moment we identify ourselves, he got the bulletin of ocurrences for Jan. 20th, in order to ‘prove’ there were no requests for the capture of a strange animal, or something. He simply had a deffensive attitude regarding us.
During the interview, I excused myself and made a brief pause to drink some water, at the end of the corridor. I saw there two firemen talking, speaking loudly and fluently, as if they were making fun of me: "Yeah, it should be a giant frog", one said. "No, it should be a demon, ha ha ha", completed the other.
We followed to the Forest Police, where we were received in a very different manner. Their captain was friendly and said he likes Ufology. He stated that the Forest Police weren’t called at that occasion, but put himself on the line to share any further information.
We came back again to the nurse. She spoke with her colleagues in the hospital and, although they hadn’t seen anything, they were all unanimous in stating that there was a strange movement that day.
Meanwhile, the information that a strange being appeared in Varginha had already taken the local media. All the local press, newspapers, radio and TV stations had already covered the case, although I had my doubts about spreading the case in the [brazilian] national media. Nevertheless, due to the difficulties of the investigation and the big cover-up, there was no other choice than calling the national media. Only this way we could pressure the authorities.
The same occasion, I was interviewed live at the request of Globo TV Network (local branch). Everything was going normal. In the middle of the program, however, something we weren’t expecting happened. The reporter took two faxes from over the table and talked: "We just received right now a communication from the Fire Department and another one from the Regional Hospital, denying everything. These two institutions say they weren’t called and have no involvement with it". Part of the Fire Dept. fax did the following statement: "This corporation communicates the people of Varginha that was NOT called to capture an extraterrestrial". This was said in the middle of the news.
I said, firstly, that I've never affirmed the captured being was alien. I've said only that it was an unknown and strange being (see picture). I’m very careful with the words. I made use of that chance and said that the UFO cover-up is such a thing that exists all over the world and started a long time ago.
After this interview, I decided to call the national media. I called the ufologist Irene Granchi, in Rio de Janeiro, who contacted the journalism production of Globo TV Network [Globo TV is the major brazilian TV network]. Since then, the case blew wide open in the [brazilian] media.
At the end of the second week of investigations, I called "Revista UFO" [UFO Magazine] and let them know the facts. In the third week, a researcher from Belo Horizonte (up to then member of CICOANI - Centro de Investigação Civil sobre Objetos Aéreos Não Identificados - Unidentified Aerial Objects Civilian Investigation Center) made contact with me. It was Vitorio Pacaccini. Since then we established a partnership in the researches, that now lasts over four months.
Before the Varginha Case have appeared in the media, I didn’t know Ubirajara yet. At first, I was investigating the case for CICOANI and had already contacted some people I knew from Três Corações, MG [State of Minas Gerais] in order to gather information about the case, specially at ESA (Escola de Sargentos das Armas - Army's Sergeants School). This happened in the beginning of February. On Wednesday, in the carnival week, I received a call from a source who said that "it was time to the jaguar to drink the water". In our language, it meant that some important witness was about to talk.
The name of the witness, by now and for a while, can't be revealed. I don’t want to put anybody in jail or harm people’s lives.
So, on this Wednesday, I went to a friend’s home where he introduced me to the first witness. After some minutes of conversation, this military man began to speak about the subject.
FIRE FIGHTERS ARE REALLY INVOLVED - Everyone in Brazil knows that when there is a problem with animals, like a wild beast escaping from the Zoo, for instance, the Fire Department is called. However, the first phone number that comes to one’s mind in a danger situation is 190 (the police number). So, we’ve concluded that firstly the police was called and then, they forwarded it to the Fire Department.
According to our source, in the morning of January 20th, the Fire Dept. phone was ringing over and over. It was people informing the appearance of a weird animal in a certain region in Varginha, and requesting some attitude, to catch it. It is important to emphasize that these phone calls started very early that morning, between 7 and 8 a.m., consequently before 3 p.m., when the girls sighted the creature.
In the occasion, the man in charge was Major Maciel, who would has sent four men to check the situation. These firemen, at the moment they arrived there, called the major thru the radio and asked him to go there too, once the case was much more complicated than it seemed before. "Major, you’d better come here, Sir. Even the Army is already here". So, the Major followed to the place, approximately at 10:30 AM.
When they reached there, the capture had already been done. There were some people, including children that throwed some stones towards the creature. The four firemen caught the being with a net (similar to that used to catch dogs). They were using common gloves, but were afraid of radiation. The creature didn’t show any reaction, staying totally apathetic and letting itself to be caught. It made a noise similar to the bees buzzing. It was put in a canvas-covered box and transported by an Army truck.
This witness is extremely trustworthy, knows everyone in the Fire Department and got access to several classified information. However, he is very afraid of revealing what he knows even to his closest people, due to the dangerous situation.
According to the description, the creature had sticky skin (seeming to have put an oil on the body), red eyes, big head with protuberances, long and thin arms, short and thin legs, big feet and a big salience at the abdomen. It had no kind of clothing, as well as no apparent genitals. In the ESA truck that conducted the being, there were two sergeants and one major, all of them with ‘gaúcho’ accent [Note from T.: gaúcho = somebody who was born or lives in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul]. All these information were given in a 45-minute interview. The witness was emphatic, saying that the Fire Department command had knowledge of the whole operation, and that Captain Alvarenga simply lied when he said he didn’t receive any notification.
All of this reveals that somebody is lying in this case and it seems that it’s not the witnesses... - because they wouldn’t gain anything with it.
I made contact with other military witnesses from Três Corações in secret meetings. One of them, by the way, went to my house at 3 a. m. together with his wife. He explained to me how the Army’s Secret Service works. It has a very-well-implanted unity in the city, with people taking turns over and over, in order not to be recognized. These "S-2", as they are known, blend with the civilians, often use mustaches, long hairs, drive old cars and behave as civilians.
This one that came to my house said the capture had been extremely favorable to the Army, because it happened in a weekend (when ESA stays practically empty, only with guards) and also due to the fact that the secret service members could enter or leave at any time, without giving explanation to anybody. Inside ESA, there is a shed where the S-2's works, surrounded by enormous security. Even the quarter’s officers have no access to that place.
We’ve had a good support from the media, which is trying to show the facts as they are. If the media, or I should better say, part of it, like Luiz Petry (director of "Fantástico") ["Fantastic" - brazilian popular TV show, aired by Globo Network], didn’t run for it, seeking information, everything would have finished with no explanation.
UFOs FLYING OVER SOUTHERN MINAS GERAIS - While the Varginha case blew wide open in national press, it began a big UFO wave over the region. Cities such as Varginha, Alfenas, Boa Esperança, Três Corações, Bandeira do Sul, São Gonçalo do Sapucaí, Campanha and many others were taken by unidentified objects sightings. The population noticed that something serious was happening and several people came to us reporting sightings, contacts or recent news about the capture.
At that time, end of February, I met an old friend that I hadn't seen for a long time. He knew a military that was involved with the capture operation. We managed to meet him and heard his report. The more he revealed, the more everything became incredible. This military man gave the names of people directly involved with the case: Colonel Olímpio Vanderlei and Sergeant Pedrosa. The interview with this eye witness of the facts was made by me and ufologist Marco A. Petit, AND RECORDED IN VIDEO as a guarantee of proof. In this tape, we ask the witness if there is the possibility of somebody attempting against his life, and he said so.
More witnesses are discovered. Later on, we managed to contact another military witness. He was very reluctant in speaking with us, but when he realized the subject was already spreaded, he got courage to tell what he knew. For his surprise, nobody at ESA knew anything, because there was a disinformation operation inside the Sergeant's School itself (see picture). Talking with us, he described the fact exactly the same way that the other did before.
Only few people inside ESA know details of the operation. Everything there is top secret. The school's military contingent is over 3.000 men and, for sure, about 98 % of them don't know anything. There are also other military witnesses which confirm the information we have. We know two people that have been directly involved with the catch and transportation of the being. Obviously, they can't be identified, because their lives would be in danger.
NAMES OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED - After we placed together all the information on the case, we obtained the names of military personnel directly involved with the case: Lieutenant-Colonel Olímpio Vanderlei, Captain Ramires, Lieutenant Tibério (from the Army Police) and Sergeant Pedrosa. We also know the names of the three drivers: Corporal Vassalo, Soldier Cirilo and Soldier De Mello.
They met a Lieutenant from S-2, who arrived in a white brown Volkswagen (Fusca-type) and stopped beside the "Paes Mendonça"supermarket, in Varginha. This lieutenant sent all of them, by Fusca, to the Humanitas Hospital, where they did some kind of secret operation.
Arriving at the hospital, there was a wooden box tied on two trestles, and one of the S-2 agents was carrying a camcorder. The other military men received orders to take their jackets off and were forbidden of using voice recorders, cameras or camcorders. At that time, Military Police and Fire Department vehicles have been seen at the hospital's entry yard with six men, as well as two men from the Army's secret service and some physicians.
The dead creature was put inside the box (see picture), which was closed by a plastic canvas and placed into the truck. The truck body covering had been strenghtened in order to really hide the being. At that time, specially on January 22nd, the whole city was commenting on the strange ESA trucks' movements. It was impossible not to notice that... Everyone commented and the rumours increased.
The convoy's route to Três Corações was easy. Reaching the city,= there were already policemen waiting and holding the traffic. It seems that the convoy's drivers didn't know what they were transporting. One of them, in his testimony, said he thought it was a burnt man, a suicide, or something. He also said the creature had a terrible bad smell. Because there were three trucks involved, we suppose that, maybe, there were three creatures. But this can't be said for sure.
By 4 a.m., the same convoy followed to Campinas, where - according to our sources - the creature was necropsied. At this time, there has been a meeting with some officers, when it was emphasized that all this operation was secret, classified and all must be kept in silence.
The soldiers arrived at Campinas by morning. Even an Engesa-type Jeep, war model, was used in the convoy, among other military trucks. We don't know yet exactly to what military unit in Campinas the convoy was destinated. Reaching the destiny, the box took another direction, which is still unknown.
We have concluded that they transported the creature to Campinas in order to put it on the hands of a professional from Unicamp [University of Campinas, a well-recognized brazilian university]. According to our investigation, this professional is one of the most respected legists in Brazil and internationally known. We got access to this information trough a scientist of Unicamp, whose name must remain anonymous. This scientist even said he went to Varginha, where he picked soil samples and local vegetation from the place the being was sighted. Thus, it became obvious that the creature was taken to this university. There are no doubts that Unicamp is involved in the case.
Our scientist talked to some teachers, close people who often visit his house, and knew that there are orders from the [brazilian] government, not to speak a word about the subject. As they told him, the head of the university is also oriented to keep this operation secret. The sources, that are reliable, say that the legist physician Badan Palhares (who is responsible for important necropsies, like the Nazi Joseph Mengele one) did the first necropsy in the creature.
Regarding the number of beings captured, it's still obscure. Analyzing the probabilities, we can say that there are at least two beings: the first was captured at 10:00 AM by the military forces, and the second was sighted by the girls at about 03:00 PM.
We already know how the first creature was captured, at 10:30 a.m., involving the Police, the Army and the Fire-Fighters. But what about the second? How did it happen? As the witnesses revealed, it occurred at about 8 p.m. that saturday, and it involved, this time, the Military Police's secret service [Note: also known as "P-2"] and the Fire Department. This capture was much more discreet than the first, because the military folks arrived in plain clothes and using civilian cars. The creature was at an area near the woods, which was surrounded by them, before they caught the being.
This information came from a well-known lady who lives in the city, member of the Varginha's "high society", that heard that a police soldier had caught the creature. This being would has been taken to the closest local medical station, where the doctor that was on duty advised them to take it to the hospital.
AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL IN TWO VARGINHA's HOSPITALS - There are evidences that the captured creature, for some reason, was taken to the Regional Hospital. But the men in charge of the operation must have concluded that that place was too central and not safe, deciding to take the being to a better place: the Humanitas Hospital (see picture), which is more well equipped and is located in a region far from the center of the town. This hospital lies beside a little peripherical road, which leads directly to the "Fernão Dias"Highway [Note from T.: which links Belo Horizonte to São Paulo]. It made the transportation very easy and discreet.
ARE THEY RIGHT? A source we have in Campinas said that Brazil is under strong pressure, warning that we may be sat over an atom bomb. According to his testimony, the whole capture and cover-up process goes deeper and deeper, beyond what we can imagine. So, we ask: are they right? Will it be true that some kind of battle between alien and military forces had already happened? Shouldn't be the Army the right channel to deal with this matter? And shouldn't be this whole operation classified?
From our point-of-view, they could share with us the information they have. We'd love to help them, but it seems to be impossible.
What if an UFO crashed in my yard, who I am supposed to call? Obviously, the first thing I would do was to call the military authorities, because that's their job. As a matter of fact, we are concerned because we're reaching the conclusion that the Varginha Case is only the tip of an iceberg.
On the other side, the right to know must be respected.
AN ALIEN IN VARGINHA? - There isn't in ufology's alien classification a being with such characteristics like that of the one seen at Varginha (see drawing - illustration by Vinicio Cunha, based on the girls' descriptions). That's something important to the world' s Ufology. This emphasizes the possibility of a genetically adapted creature, whose aim was to do some operation among us, terrestrials.
It is very likely that the Varginha's ET was some kind of animal created only to conclude a mission, which is still unknown to us. Or perhaps it would be some kind of probe, patrol, or monitoring of the human race. Ufology's classification is something relative.
The classification has a wide variety, but much of it is due to the different interpretations made by the people who describe and draw the beings.
Two reporters here from Varginha were searched by a person who identified himself as the-cousin-of-a-son-of-a-military-man-from-ESA. This military's son would has got access to a film made at ESA showing the creature (or the creatures) and showed it to his cousin, who offered to SBT [Note: SBT = Brazilian Television System, the second major TV Network in Brazil] for the equivalent to US$ 68,000. Since then, the price has been reduced. There was a negotiation process with SBT, involving the SBT's board of directors in São Paulo, in order to get the movie. The young boy visited himself the local SBT station, but they didn't reach any deal. Some time later, he said it wouldn't be possible to do it, because some people were suspecting of him and he was in life danger.
This coincided with the fact that, on the same week, a Varginha citizen, with a good reputation in the city, came to us. He said that his 16-year old daughter and her school friend - daughter of a policeman from the M.P. - would have watched a "horrible" film that her father brought home. It was about the captured creature. As the girl's father realized the situation was dangerous, he vanished with the tape...
We know this tape exists, and for obvious reasons: witnesses had already informed us that in the capture day one of the military men was using a camcorder. We have had many evidences that this film is here in Varginha.
