Caso Varginha — IPM (Inquérito Policial Militar) Volume 01 (1996)

Brief

Opened 13 February 1997, this Military Police Inquiry was ordered by EsSA Commander Gen. Bda SERGIO PEDRO COELHO LIMA via Portaria n° 009-Aj G.2 and conducted by Lt. Col. LUCIO CARLOS FINHOLDT PEREIRA, with its stated subject being the book 'INCIDENTE EM VARGINHA' by Vitério Pacaccini and Maxs Portes rather than the incident itself. The volume incorporates a May 1996 preliminary sindicancia conducted by Col. Cav RENE JAIRO FAGUNDES — nine sworn testimonies from soldiers, NCOs, and officers covering their movements 22-25 January 1996 — and a 1997 despacho scheduling additional witnesses from Varginha military police and Poços de Caldas fire brigade commands. Every witness accounts for routine activities on the relevant dates; truck convoys to Varginha on 25 January 1996 are consistently described as scheduled wheel-alignment and balancing runs at the authorized Mercedes-Benz concessionaire AUTOMACO, and every witness explicitly denies knowing civilian researchers UBIRAJARA RODRIGUES and VITORIO PACACCINI.

Metadata

Agency

Força Aérea Brasileira / Arquivo Nacional

Release

1996-01-20

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

18 pages

Programs

IPM (Inquerito Policial Militar) EsSA — Autos Findos N° 908/1997, Sindicancia Portaria n° 033-Aj-G.2 (May 1996)

Tags

Varginha 1996, humanoid creature, Brazil, military recovery allegation, civilian ground sighting, Minas Gerais, EsSA truck convoys, AUTOMACO

Key points

• The IPM was formally opened on 13 February 1997, triggered by Parte Nr 006-E2 of 27 January 1997, which concerned the book 'INCIDENTE EM VARGINHA' by Vitério Pacaccini and Maxs Portes — framing the inquiry around a civilian publication rather than the military event itself.p.3
• EsSA Commander Gen. Bda SERGIO PEDRO COELHO LIMA ordered the IPM opened 'com a possivel urgencia' via Portaria n° 009-Aj G.2 on 29 January 1997, delegating police authority to Lt. Col. FINHOLDT PEREIRA.p.4
• A preliminary sindicancia under Col. Cav RENE JAIRO FAGUNDES was already underway by 13 May 1996 — within four months of the incident — and its completed file was forwarded to the EsSA Commander on 20 May 1996.p.7
• BCSv Commander Ten. Col. OLIMPIO VANDERLEI SANTOS confirmed he personally ordered the Varginha truck convoys, acting simultaneously as battalion commander and EsSA Finance Officer (Ordenador de Despesas), and identified the drivers as Cabo RENATO VASSALO FERNANDES and Cabo WELBER NEUDES RODRIGUES.p.8
• Two truck convoys departed EsSA on 25 January 1996 — the first pair at 08:34, returning at 15:41; the second at 15:41, returning at 18:00 — with the stated mission of periodic wheel-alignment and balancing at AUTOMACO, the only Mercedes-Benz-authorized dealer in the region.p.8
• Cabo RENATO VASSALO FERNANDES, one of the primary drivers, stated the convoy formed with Cabo WELBER and traveled to AUTOMACO in Varginha for 'manutencao periddica de balanceamento e alinhamento das rodas dianteiras,' noticing nothing abnormal.p.13
• A third convoy to Varginha occurred on 26 January 1996 — one day after the main runs — driven by Sd RICARDO SILVERIO DE MELO and Cb DAVID, but they returned immediately when the AUTOMACO alignment machine was found to be broken.p.14
• The 1997 despacho scheduled testimony from the Varginha Military Police Battalion Commander (Lt. Col. MAURICIO) and the Poços de Caldas Fire Brigade Commander (Maj. MACIEL) — extending the inquiry's scope to both emergency-response commands linked in civilian accounts of the incident.p.5
• All nine witnesses across nine separate sworn statements explicitly denied any knowledge of or contact with civilian UFO researchers UBIRAJARA RODRIGUES and VITORIO PACACCINI.p.11

Verbatim

• versando sobre suposta criatura extraterrestre = avistada naquele Municipio

  p.2

• determino que se procedam os necessarios exames ediligéncias para o esclarecimento dos aludidos fatos

  p.3

• Tendo tomado conhecimento da parte anexa, determino seja, com a possivel urgéncia, instaurado a respeito o devido Inquérito Policial Militar, delegando-vos, para esse fim as atribuigdes policiais que me competem.

  p.4

• 02(dois)caminhdes sairam da Escola as 08:34 horas e retornaram as 15:41 horas,posteriormente sairam mais 02(dois) caminhdes as 15:41 horas,tendo retornado as 18:00 horas,sendo os motoristas os mesmos militares acima citados

  p.8

• a ordem partiu dele mesmo(Ten Cel VANDERLE]),visto que naquela oportunidade além do Comando do} Batalhio também acumulava a funco de Ordenador de Despesas da EsSA

  p.8

Most interesting

• The formal IPM was initiated nearly a year after the incident, and only after a civilian book named military personnel by implication — suggesting the military escalated from an internal sindicancia to a formal inquiry primarily in response to public disclosure pressure rather than its own investigative initiative.
• The inquiry's stated subject is a published book rather than the underlying incident itself, a framing that avoids any official acknowledgment that the events described in the book occurred.
• The 1997 despacho on page 5 summons the commander of the Varginha Military Police Battalion and the commander of the Poços de Caldas Fire Brigade as witnesses — both units named in civilian accounts of an emergency response to creatures — neither of whom appears in the nine testimonies contained in this volume.
• The case header reads 'Autos Findos N° 908/1997' — 'Findos' meaning concluded or closed — indicating the file was archived as a resolved matter despite the broader public controversy remaining open.
• Two corroborating senior officers (EsSA Sub-Commander Col. DE MOURA and General Aide Maj. CELSO DO O DA SILVA) were called solely to confirm Ten. Col. VANDERLEI attended routine morning formations on the relevant dates — a narrow alibi construction that addresses presence at garrison without addressing what garrison vehicles were doing in Varginha.
• Sd RICARDO SILVERIO DE MELO's testimony introduces a third, undiscussed convoy on 26 January 1996 — one day after the alleged incident — that traveled to Varginha but returned without completing maintenance. This convoy is absent from all other testimonies.
• The nine witnesses in this volume span four levels of rank — from General Brigadier (who issued the order) through Private — yet every single statement uses near-identical phrasing to deny knowing Pacaccini and Rodrigues, and every witness confirms the same maintenance-run explanation without variation across a year-long gap between testimony sets.