Mário Juruna (September 3, 1942 or 1943 – July 18, 2002) was the first national-level federal representative in Brazil that belonged to an indigenous people.

Biography

He was born in Namurunjá village, near

Barra do Garças Barra do Garças is a city with a population of 61,135 located in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, around from the capital city of Cuiabá. It was founded on 13 June 1924, but it became politically independent on 15 September 1948. Nowadays, B ...

, in the state of

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...

, the son of the

Xavante The Xavante (also Shavante, Chavante, Akuen, A'uwe, Akwe, Awen, or Akwen) are an indigenous people, comprising about 30,000 individuals within the territory of eastern Mato Grosso state in Brazil. They speak the Xavante language, part of the J� ...

''cacique'' (chief) Apoenã. He lived in the jungle, without contact with civilization, until the age of 17, when he became ''cacique''. In the 1970s he became famous for walking the halls of

FUNAI is a Japanese consumer electronics company headquartered in Daitō, Osaka. Currently, it is in liquidation. Apart from producing its own branded electronic products, it was also an OEM providing assembled televisions and video players/recor ...

, in

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

to fight for land rights of Indians, while carrying a

tape recorder An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present ...

, which he used to record everything that was said to him and to prove that the authorities, in most cases, did not keep their word. He was elected to the

Chamber of Deputies of Brazil The Chamber of Deputies () is a federal legislative body and the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. The chamber comprises 513 deputies, who are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year terms. The current presiden ...

by the Democratic Labour Party from 1983–1987, representing

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. His election had strong repercussions in Brazil and the world. He was responsible for the creation of a permanent commission for Indians, which brought formal recognition to issues related to Indians. In 1984, he denounced the businessman Calim Eid for having attempted to bribe him to vote for

Paulo Maluf Paulo Salim Maluf (; born 3 September 1931) is a Brazilian politician with a career spanning over four decades and many functions, including those of State Governor of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mayor of the São Paulo, City of São Paulo, N ...

, the presidential candidate supported by the military regime then in power. He voted for

Tancredo Neves Tancredo de Almeida Neves () (4 March 1910 – 21 April 1985) was a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and entrepreneur. He served as Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Brazil), Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs from 1953 to 1954, Pri ...

, the democratic opposition candidate. He was not reelected in 1986, but he remained active in politics for several years. With his mandate ended, and abandoned by his tribe, he remained in Brasília and died on July 18, 2002, due to complications from

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

References

External links

Biografia de Mário Juruna

Notícia do falecimento de Mário Juruna
{{DEFAULTSORT:Juruna, Mario 1940s births 2002 deaths People from Barra do Garças Democratic Labour Party (Brazil) politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) from Rio de Janeiro (state) Xavante people Deaths from diabetes in Brazil 20th-century indigenous leaders of the Americas Indigenous rights activists Indigenous people of Eastern Brazil Brazilian politicians of indigenous peoples descent

Biography

References

Further reading

External links