Mario Juruna, 58; Only Indian to Serve in Brazil’s Congress

Mario Juruna, 58, a leader of the Xavante Indian tribe of central Brazil and the only Indian to serve in Brazil’s Congress, died Tuesday in Brasilia of complications from diabetes.

A critic of government policies, Juruna was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a member of the opposition Democratic Labor Party in 1982. He served four years representing Rio de Janeiro state but was defeated in a reelection bid.

Juruna initially ran for Congress after eight years of leading a sometime violent struggle for land rights for the Xavantes, a tribe that in the early 1980s numbered about 6,000.

Raised in the interior of Mato Grosso, Juruna spoke tribal dialects until age 17, when he learned Portuguese. He later recalled that he hadn’t seen a white man until he was 16. He worked for several years as a ranch hand before returning to his tribe and becoming an effective advocate in dealing with the government.

Juruna dropped out of politics after his reelection defeat and moved to Guara, a city near Brasilia, where he complained against political corruption in Brazil.