Cana grants asylum to native activist

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the world, a Bra­zilian nativc-rights activist living in Montreal has been granted political asylum in Canada.

Tiuré, 42. a Potiguara Indian from Paraiba state in northeastern Brazil, was awarded refugee status in a decision by Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board last Thursday.

The native leader, who uses only one name, told the board he had been tortured by federal police and threatened with death by gunmen because of his outspoken defence of aboriginal causes. The Canadian refugee tribunal found his testimony credible, ruling that Tiuré had a well-founded fear of persecution should he retum to Brazil.

Tiuré, who arrived in Montreal last November, said yesterday that he intends to use the ruling to draw greater international attention to Brazil's human-rights record and the plight o f its aboriginal people.

"For the first time, a jury of inter­national standing has recognized that Brazilian Indians are suffering persecution, death threats and extermination" he said.

"To me, this ruling signifies that the Brazilian government has been found guilty of criminal acts.

"I am a living witness o f the atrocities committed against Brazil­ian Indians - acts that are committed under the cover of a democratic facade."

Officials in a leading Brazilian Indian-rights organization confirmed that the ruling appears to mark the first time a foreign court has taken note o f the repression suffered by Brazilian Indians.

"As far as we're aware, he is first indigenous person from Brazil to be granted refugee status anywhere in the world." said Eduardo Leao, spokesman for the Conselho Indigenista Missionário, a group affiliated with Brazil's Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The ruling "will have the effect of demonstrating clearly that Indians are being persecuted in Brazil," added Fabio Villas, the organization's executive secretary, in a separate telephone interview from Brasilia.
Tiuré told the board that arson (...)