Diplomatic Cable, Brazil, November 20, 1963

This is an unclassified airgram that the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro sent to the Department of State on November 20, 1963. It gives a negative report on an unidentified flying object said to have come down near Conde, Bahia. The Consul in Salvador, Harold Midkiff, reported that the story looked fabricated in Rio and that nobody in the area had seen any such object. Local newspaper clippings added that the Ministry of Aeronautics denied that any strange object had appeared.

From the source: Release of 2026-08-07 Incident: 11/20/63, Bahia, Brazil. This document is a U.S. Department of State diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to the Office of the Secretary of State in Washington, D.C., on November 20, 1963. This cable relays the findings of the scientific attaché at the American Consulate in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, that a widely reported incident allegedly involving a crashed unidentified object was unsubstantiated, characterizing the reports as a fabrication originating in Rio de Janeiro. The Consulate cites a lack of contemporary local reporting regarding the alleged incident, as well as contradictory reporting from local newspapers after the fact, as evidence that the published claims are unsubstantiated. The Consulate also cites a statement from the Brazilian Ministry of Aeronautics categorically denying that there was “any “strange object” in Conde [Bahia].” This correspondence follows a previous exchange between the Embassy and the Department of State, included in this collection under the title “DOS-UAP-D001.”

DECLASSIFIED NND 939551