{
  "id": "colares-operation-prato-1977",
  "title": "Colares: what Operation Prato’s archive establishes",
  "country": "Brazil",
  "category": "ovni",
  "date": "1977-10-01",
  "date_label": "1977–1978 investigation period; October 1 is a season-ordering anchor",
  "location": "Colares, Pará — municipal orientation",
  "lat": -0.936,
  "lng": -48.281,
  "summary": "A military investigation collected unusual-light reports in northern Brazil. The existence of official files must be separated from the identity of the reported sources.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "CP1",
      "title": "Brazilian National Archives — UFOs in the archive",
      "url": "https://querepublicaeessa.an.gov.br/index.php/que-republica-e-essa/assuntos/temas/302-os-ovnis-no-arquivo-nacional",
      "language": "pt",
      "note": "Official finding context for Operation Prato and other UFO records.",
      "kind": "Source record · see provenance note"
    },
    {
      "id": "CP2",
      "title": "Brazilian National Archives — collection overview",
      "url": "https://www.gov.br/arquivonacional/pt-br/acesso-a-informacao/institucional/acervo",
      "language": "pt",
      "note": "Institutional custody context; not another investigation of Colares.",
      "kind": "Source record · see provenance note"
    }
  ],
  "author": "Eklipsis",
  "content_languages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "path": "/investigations/colares-operation-prato-1977",
  "source_url": "https://querepublicaeessa.an.gov.br/index.php/que-republica-e-essa/assuntos/temas/302-os-ovnis-no-arquivo-nacional",
  "location_source_url": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=-0.936&mlon=-48.281#map=8/-0.936/-48.281",
  "location_precision": "region",
  "location_note": "Approximate orientation marker for the named place or institution; not a surveyed observation point, protected excavation coordinate or recommended access route.",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-09-30",
  "edition": 1,
  "truth_type": "unknown",
  "verdict": "A real military inquiry and an archival record are documented. The physical identity of individual reported lights is not established by this guide. Claims about causes or effects need to be linked to particular contemporaneous evidence rather than to the existence of the operation.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "Documented account",
      "text": "Brazil’s National Archives describes Operation Prato in its account of UFO records and identifies the 1977–1978 investigation period. Its holdings include reports collected by military authorities. Official custody supports provenance of the records; it does not make every witness interpretation an official finding or prove that a recorded light had an extraordinary origin.",
      "refs": [
        "CP1",
        "CP2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Evidence and its limits",
      "text": "The municipal point is not a reconstructed path or a claimed exposure location. Reports, sketches, press accounts and later interviews have different provenance. The selected finding aid does not establish that all operational material survives or has been reviewed in this dossier.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "Inspector’s assessment",
      "text": "A real military inquiry and an archival record are documented. The physical identity of individual reported lights is not established by this guide. Claims about causes or effects need to be linked to particular contemporaneous evidence rather than to the existence of the operation.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "A reproducible next investigation",
      "text": "Create a file concordance with archive reference, document date, author and page. Separate military observation from witness testimony and press repetition. For each image, require the original caption, time, camera information and chain of custody before extracting size or motion.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "timeline": [
    {
      "date": "1977",
      "text": "Reports in Pará prompt the investigation described by the archive.",
      "refs": [
        "CP1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "1977–1978",
      "text": "Operation Prato forms part of the official UFO record.",
      "refs": [
        "CP1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "Later archival custody",
      "text": "The National Archives describes retained records and their access context.",
      "refs": [
        "CP1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "30 September 2026",
      "text": "Eklipsis prepares this source-linked documentary synthesis. This is editorial review, not historical fieldwork.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "text": "A military investigation collected unusual-light reports in northern Brazil. The existence of official files must be separated from the identity of the reported sources.",
      "status": "Documented subject; interpretations qualified in the dossier",
      "refs": [
        "CP1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "A real military inquiry and an archival record are documented. The physical identity of individual reported lights is not established by this guide. Claims about causes or effects need to be linked to particular contemporaneous evidence rather than to the existence of the operation.",
      "status": "Assessment with explicit limits",
      "refs": [
        "CP1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The map point represents the exact location of every reported event.",
      "status": "Incorrect; orientation only",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "hypotheses": [
    {
      "title": "Several ordinary light sources",
      "status": "Candidate class",
      "support": "A reporting episode may combine distinct events.",
      "limits": "The archive guide cannot resolve individual sources.",
      "test": "Match particular observations to independent time and geometry records."
    },
    {
      "title": "An unusual aerial source",
      "status": "Identity unresolved",
      "support": "Reports motivated official attention.",
      "limits": "Official attention is not an identification.",
      "test": "Require traceable observations or material with independent corroboration."
    }
  ],
  "tasks": [
    {
      "title": "Audit the source record",
      "body": "Retrieve the named records for Colares: what Operation Prato’s archive establishes. Record author, edition, page or section and access date. Treat a catalogue, mirror or translation of one document as the same evidence, not independent corroboration."
    },
    {
      "title": "Build the dated evidence ledger",
      "body": "Create a file concordance with archive reference, document date, author and page. Separate military observation from witness testimony and press repetition. For each image, require the original caption, time, camera information and chain of custody before extracting size or motion."
    },
    {
      "title": "Test the interpretation",
      "body": "Match particular observations to independent time and geometry records. Require traceable observations or material with independent corroboration. Record what would favour or weaken each explanation; leave unperformed work marked as proposed."
    }
  ]
}