Ademar Gevaerd

Ademar José Gevaerd (1962–2022) was a Brazilian ufologist whose public identity became inseparable from Revista UFO, the long-running magazine he founded in 1985. Born in Ponta Grossa, in the state of Paraná, he turned an early interest in reports of unidentified flying objects into a publishing and research career rather than merely a personal hobby. From its first issues, Revista UFO gave Brazilian sightings, military records, witness accounts, photographs, and international cases a dedicated national outlet. Gevaerd served as its editor and principal public representative for decades, making the title one of the best-known Brazilian periodicals devoted to the subject. His organizational work predated the magazine. In 1982, Gevaerd helped establish the Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas de Discos Voadores (CBPDV), usually rendered in English as the Brazilian Center for Flying Saucer Research. The group’s name reflected the older “flying saucer” vocabulary, while its activities included collecting testimony and publicizing cases. Gevaerd later became a prominent advocate of disclosure of official Brazilian UFO material. He was associated with campaign “UFOs: Freedom of Information Now,” which pressed Brazilian authorities to transfer and open records held by military bodies. The release of documents concerning events including the 1986 Brazilian Air Force radar episode and the 1977–78 Operation Saucer made official archives central to the magazine’s coverage. Gevaerd also used conferences to connect Brazilian audiences with foreign researchers and witnesses. He organized or took part in UFO gatherings, including events promoted under the International UFO Congress Brazil name, and interviewed figures linked to celebrated cases. His work repeatedly returned to Brazilian incidents: Operation Saucer in Colares, Pará; the Varginha episode of 1996; and the night of 19 May 1986, when Air Force aircraft pursued radar targets. In his magazine, such reports were presented through documentation, comparison, and access to sources. That emphasis on files and testimony distinguished his editorial approach. Gevaerd died on 9 December 2022, aged 60. His death ended a 37-year stewardship of Revista UFO, but the publication continued and preserved a visible record of his editorial priorities. For Brazilian ufology, his importance rests not on a single claimed encounter but on institutions he built: CBPDV, a national magazine, public events, and sustained pressure for preservation and release of state-held UFO documentation. Those concrete projects made him a durable reference in the country’s UFO field for researchers, readers, and official archivists, and gave investigators a shared documentary record across decades of publication.