2014 · Apiwtxa village, Kampa do Rio Amônia Indigenous Land, Marechal Thaumaturgo, Acre; and Kampa e Isolados do Envira Indigenous Land, Feijó, Acre, Brazil

Light beams over Ashaninka villages: the Acre files (Brazil, 2014-2016)

On the record

Strength B · 8/10 · 3 independent

Evidence 2/4 · Witnesses 3/3 · Backing 3/3

More than 120 pages of Federal Police, FUNAI and MPF records with named witnesses, a FUNAI official and an anthropologist among them, and two videos; police saw nothing themselves and some details were contradicted.

Plausibility High

Score 11 · 8 factors for, 1 against

Official Brazilian files record named villagers, a FUNAI indigenist and an anthropologist seeing low lights and beams over Ashaninka villages; police found no crime, contradicted some details and saw nothing, but no explanation was demonstrated.

See the factors ↓

Unresolved

The Ashaninka of Apiwtxa village, Acre, whose 2014 letters to FUNAI and the Federal Police described beams of light over the village. · UAP Brazil

Official Federal Police, FUNAI and MPF files (2014-16) on lights and beams over Ashaninka villages in Acre, with named witnesses, a FUNAI official and an anthropologist.
Police saw nothing on two missions and contradicted the miscarriage detail; no agency explained the lights, and the inquiries were filed for lack of a crime.
A 2016 report from the Envira river of a man struck after firing at a light rests on the local press.

WhenLate 2013 to 2016; peak from 24 July 2014

WhereApiwtxa village, Kampa do Rio Amônia Indigenous Land, Marechal Thaumaturgo, Acre; and Kampa e Isolados do Envira Indigenous Land, Feijó, Acre, Brazil

Backing3 independent

Evidenceofficial records

From late 2013 Ashaninka villagers at Apiwtxa, on the Amônia river in Acre near the Peru border, reported silent lights over the forest. On 24 July 2014 one came down near a house and lit the people inside; the community said beams hit three people, and asked FUNAI, the Federal Police and the Army for help. The Federal Police opened inquiry 184/2014 and sent officers twice; they saw nothing, recorded named witnesses and two videos, contradicted some details and closed the case for lack of a crime. A FUNAI indigenist saw the lights himself, and in January 2015 anthropologist Carolina Comandulli saw a point of light firing flashes at her hammock, which led the Federal Public Ministry to open a civil inquiry, filed in 2016 with no agency able to explain the phenomenon. In February 2016 an Ashaninka man on the Envira river was reportedly struck after firing at a light. Rony Vernet obtained and published more than 120 pages of the files.

Evidence, in date order (3)

Aug 2014Federal Police, Cruzeiro do Sulofficial
inquiry IPL 184/2014: two field missions, named witness statements and two villagers' and visitors' videos; filed for lack of a crime
Aug 2014FUNAI, Juruá regional officeofficial
forwarded the complaint, sent an indigenist who saw lights, and kept the matter restricted
Aug 2015Federal Public Ministry (MPF), Cruzeiro do Sul and 6th Chamberofficial
civil inquiry 1.10.001.000016/2015-03 on Comandulli's testimony; Army and Air Force queried; filed 2016

How plausible · High

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Access Federal Police, FUNAI and the MPF produced the record; witnesses were in the village.
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No gain sought A community asking authorities for protection; FUNAI kept it restricted.
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Independent convergence Many named villagers, a FUNAI official and an outside anthropologist, plus two independent videos.
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Checkable details check out The police, FUNAI and MPF documents exist and are public.
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Character record Witnesses include a FUNAI indigenist and an anthropologist.
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Restraint Comandulli and the FUNAI indigenist describe what they saw without claiming its origin.

Against

−
Details proved false The miscarriage and the nurse's sighting were contradicted in the police record.

Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-27.

On the record

Federal Police inquiry IPL 184/2014-DPF/CZS/AC, opened 1 Aug 2014 by delegate Marcel Antônio Neme; detailed report 001/2014 of 7 Aug 2014; closed 29 Sep 2014, complementary report 12 Mar 2015.
FUNAI CR Juruá Letters 115 and 116/2014 (1 Aug 2014), Technical Information 15/CRJ/FUNAI/2014, Letter 176/GAB/2014 and Technical Information 09/2016/GAB/PRES/FUNAI-MJ (27 Sep 2016).
MPF Cruzeiro do Sul civil inquiry 1.10.001.000016/2015-03 (Ordinance 29/2015, 8 Sep 2015); filing approved by the 6th Chamber, 407th session, 17 Mar 2016.
Army 61st BIS letter of 5 Mar 2015 and Air Force DTCEA-CZ letter of 6 Mar 2015: no information, no flight records for 20-27 Jan 2015.

Claims

On 31 July 2014 the Ashaninka association APIWTXA (president Moisés da Silva Pinhanta) wrote to the Federal Police: objects had flown over the village since 2013, more often since 24 July 2014, when 'this device came down at a height of 7 feet approximately from the ground with a very strong light' on the faces of people in Ilda's house; a woman three months pregnant lost her child in the panic.firsthandOn the recordAPIWTXA Letter No. 016/2014 (Federal Police inquiry 184/2014)

The community's statement to FUNAI the same day: a sphere about 13 ft across that 'shoots beams of light, usually in blue'; cameras did not work when it was near the ground; three people hit by beams were sick with headache and sensory imbalance, one in shock.firsthandOn the recordAshaninka people of the Amônia River, statement to FUNAI CR Juruá (31 Jul 2014)

FUNAI's Juruá office forwarded the complaint to the Federal Police and the Acre security secretariat on 1 Aug 2014, handling it as restricted 'because it is such a delicate and difficult to understand issue'; the Federal Police opened inquiry IPL 184/2014 the same day.Lights of the samaúma: Vernet's station with the Yawanawá in Acre (Brazil, 2025)firsthandOn the recordFUNAI CR Juruá (Letters 115 and 116/2014); Federal Police, Cruzeiro do Sul

Two Federal Police officers kept watch at Apiwtxa from 2 to 4 Aug 2014 and saw nothing; named villagers (Wilson Reatequi Picon, Shãpe Pyãko, Shariwanko Asheninka) described a silent luminous sphere, one beaming coloured light down from about 50 ft, and two visitors, anthropology student Paula de Mattos Colares (30 Jul) and agronomist Matheus Teixeira Pires do Couto, filmed lights that the police attached to the file.Colares and Operação Prato: the FAB's Pará sightings filefirsthandOn the recordFederal Police detailed report 001/2014-DPF/CZS/AC (7 Aug 2014)

The police report found inconsistencies: the brother of the woman said to have miscarried said she was not pregnant, and a nurse said to have been lit up denied being there. It suggested fear of Peruvian 'pela cara' stories and ayahuasca rituals, while saying it was 'not possible to state that the alleged sightings were actually hallucinations'.analysisOn the recordFederal Police detailed report 001/2014-DPF/CZS/AC

FUNAI indigenist João de Souza Santos, at Apiwtxa for several days in Aug-Sep 2014, saw lights cross the sky four times in one night, white and circular 'like a prism', one low along the river; he judged them not drones nor anything man-made nor supernatural, and offered a meteor shower or space debris.firsthandOn the recordJoão de Souza Santos (FUNAI), statement to the Federal Police, 15 Jan 2015

In The picture

On the recordThe firmest layer is the one trained observers and instruments wrote down. Belgian gendarmes watched silent lit triangles in 1989-90 and ground radars tracked the wave; the Air Force sent F-16s and released its own data, though a radar study it released in 2025 puts the fighters' lock-ons down to their tracking softw…

Connected cases

Lights of the samaúma: Vernet's station with the Yawanawá in Acre (Brazil, 2025) 2025 Colares and Operação Prato: the FAB's Pará sightings file 1977

Sources

Mentioned on (1)

Reality Check: Reality Check Rewind: Rony Vernet's instrumented station with the Yawanawá in Acre