May 22, 2005: Aliens in Brazil - Dr. Roger Leir
May 22, 2005: Aliens in Brazil - Dr. Roger Leir  
Podcast: The Art Bell Archive
Published On: Fri Nov 21 2025
Description: Art Bell welcomes Dr. Roger Leir on the same day Brazil announces it will open its classified UFO files to the world. Leir describes how Brazilian Air Force generals initiated contact with civilian researchers to begin releasing documents, including over 100 photographs from Operation Saucer, a 1977 military investigation of UFO activity in the Amazon.Leir recounts the 1996 Varginha case in detail, beginning with a damaged craft trailing smoke that crashed after NORAD alerted Brazilian forces. He describes multiple witnesses observing the military capturing strange beings described as brown-skinned, less than five feet tall, with large red eyes and three protuberances on their heads. Three teenage girls encountered one creature kneeling by a wall, and two military intelligence officers later captured another being trying to cross a street.The most disturbing element involves 23-year-old officer Marco Eli Chereze, who held the captured creature on his lap without protective gear. Within three weeks, the previously healthy soldier was dead from a mysterious immune system collapse. His doctor confirmed the cause of death was never determined, and the symptoms, including hemorrhaging eyes, bore resemblance to Ebola-like infections. His wife was heavily intimidated and all medical records were sealed.