Missouri Rep. Eric Burlison told NewsNation that he sent letters to the FBI and CIA seeking information about the alleged 1996 Varginha incident in Brazil. The July 15 report said Burlison had not received a direct reply. The request is a new act of congressional inquiry, but it does not establish that either agency possesses relevant material.
Accounts associated with Varginha claim that a cigar-shaped craft crashed in southeastern Brazil and that unusual beings were seen or treated medically. Those claims remain disputed, differ across witnesses and have not been confirmed by publicly available physical evidence. The case is often called Brazil's Roswell, a comparison that describes its cultural status rather than an established finding.
Burlison, a member of the House Oversight Committee's Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, previously attended a Washington forum where witnesses discussed Varginha. He told NewsNation that people may sincerely believe what they experienced, while adding that he would not accept the extraordinary account without evidence he found persuasive.
The congressman said one part of his request concerns a claim that a Brazilian soldier died from an infection after contact with an alleged being or wreckage. Burlison said he was exploring whether the FBI could work with Brazilian authorities on a possible exhumation. No exhumation, forensic result or agency commitment was announced in the report.
A documented response from the FBI or CIA could clarify whether the United States holds records about Varginha, how any records were created and whether they contain first-hand evidence or only relayed claims. Even if files exist, their existence would show institutional handling of an allegation, not by itself prove a crash, a non-human body or U.S. recovery of material.