Pereira – Sure! No doubt about that! To all and every operation!

UFO - Have you received specific information on that operation?

Pereira – At the moment it was carried out, no. I knew of the results only after that. But I knew Hollanda [Colonel Uyrangê Hollanda, commander of that military mission]. He worked for the Air Force Intelligence, same as I did, so we were always passing by one another.

UFO - I interviewed Hollanda in 1997. I had just given an interview to Fantástico [Fantastic], talking about the documents Brazilian Air Force holds and he saw me at the show and called me the next morning saying: "Look, Gevaerd, I follow your work and I know you are doing the right thing. I want to say that now I'm retired and have no more obligations with my uniform. So, if you want to come to Rio to interview me, I'll have much to say". I went to Rio immediately and together with Marco Antonio Petit we had a historical interview with him. Have you read it?

Pereira – Yes, of course. I have a copy with me and have also found it in several websites. It's a long interview and I read it carefully. Some time ago, a colleague sent me a copy and I replied: "Man, do you really think I don't have it? I got a copy long ago".

UFO - Really? Then I conclude that high rank officials as you may have had become aware of Hollanda's statements.

Pereira – Yes, certainly. It's a long and much known interview. But Hollanda was a very disturbed man, with a very introspective personality. And as a result he took his own life…

UFO - Do you believe his personal problems somehow influenced the statements he made to Brazilian UFO Magazine concerning Operação Prato [Operation Saucer]?

Pereira – Not the contents, but maybe the way he did it. Hollanda was a serious man and wouldn't be able to change the contents, especially regarding such an important matter.

UFO - People say that he loved to be called to lead that operation because all he wanted was to go to the jungle. He headed the military mission and had a close encounter with an ET, so he told us at the interview. Did you know this?

Pereira – I knew that, he reported it, but I have never discussed this issue with him. Hollanda also called me shortly after, but I was in another operation [not a ufological one].

UFO - He told us that he was together with a subordinate at Rio Guajará-Mirim heading towards the camp when a cylindrical aircraft with 100m in length nearly landed on the other margin. From the top, a door was opened and an ET came from it floating to the place where they were. According to Hollanda this was the most exciting moment in the operation. Have you ever discussed that with him?

Pereira – No, unfortunately I didn't have details before. But maybe that's why he had put all of his efforts and dedication in Operação Prato [Operation Saucer], which was where he found a sense for his life. If he couldn't succeed as an aviator and if he rejected the idea of being an intending officer, then the intelligence suited him well. Working for the intelligence for me is an agreeable experience, at least partially. Things were tough those times. I worked a lot with pure military intelligence, with strategy. But I was never much concerned with communists for example [the first official justification for Operação Prato [Operation Saucer] was that it was conceived in order to identify communists possibly hidden in the Amazon jungle].

UFO - Hollanda suspected that the contact he had with an ET at the margin of Rio Guajará-Mirim during December 1977 was the turning point for the termination of Operação Prato [Operation Saucer]. He said he was ordered to terminate the operation after reporting it to his superior, Brigadier Protásio Lopes de Oliveira, then commander of the Brazilian I Regional Air Command (COMAR 1). Did you know that?

Pereira – Partly. I didn't have that detail.

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