On January 20, 1996, three young women in Varginha, Minas Gerais, encountered a crouching creature with red eyes and a large domed head in a vacant lot. Within hours, military police and firefighters moved through the city; multiple witnesses reported seeing beings transported under military guard to local hospitals. Military police officer Marco Eli Chereze died twenty-six days later under disputed circumstances.

The Brazilian Army's 2010 official inquiry concluded that witnesses had misidentified a mentally unstable local man and that military vehicle movements were routine maintenance. Critics noted that a physician, Dr. Italo Venturelli, gave sworn testimony describing an entity with three-fingered hands in a hospital bed, and that at least one surgeon confirmed unusual biological material. The case is the most debated civilian-military contact incident in Brazilian UFO history.