Brazil killers may get immunity

Under a 1993 legal reform, says FUNAI official Luiz Soares, isolated peoples can have immunity from prosecution. The determination is made by a criminal-court judge, with the aid of a professional anthropologist, using criteria such as the accused's ability to speak Portuguese - the official language of Brazil - and his degree of exposure to Brazilian culture and society.

The Cinta Larga tribe only came into contact with the outside world in the 1960s. The tribe numbers about 1,300 individuals, about half of whom speak Portuguese. According to Mr. Soares, the Cinta Larga's relative isolation argues in favor of their immunity, in the event that a tribal member does get charged.

"It's a right they have under Brazilian law, and I would certainly push to see that they make use of that right," he says.

Expanded indigenous rights swept through South America the 1990s. New constitutions were enshrined in Colombia in 1991, Peru in 1993, Bolivia in 1994, and Ecuador in 1997.

In varying degrees, these new constitutions all give aboriginals more rights over land and provide some recognition of communal ownership of resources. But only Brazil allows for the lenient treatment of Indians in criminal proceedings.

And here there are significant drawbacks to Indians' special status. It has prevented them from entering into contracts, starting businesses, and in many cases even exercising control over their traditional lands and resources, says Ms. Ramos. Instead, the resources of Brazilian Indians are often put under the management of FUNAI.

"On balance, I would say minority status has not served Brazil's Indians well," says Ms. Ramos.

The potential immunity from prosecution for the killings has engendered a backlash. In Espigão d'Oeste, the town closest to the Cinta Larga reserve, one Indian was taken hostage by angry miners in the days after the massacre. The man was freed only after police intervened. The rest of the town's small Indian population has since fled back to the forest, according to mayor Lucia Tereza Santos.

Indian immunity has long aroused resentment among rural people in Brazil, particularly in the mining industries. Visitors to the Brazilian interior are often told by locals to steer clear of Indian land. Indians have been known to hold visitors for ransom or arbitrarily confiscate their belongings, they say.

Immunity, however, is not a given. It is usually refused by judges, according to Soares. Attempts to set up parallel tribunals to judge Indians according to their own tribal laws and traditions have so far proved too controversial, he says.

Once the government removes its cordon around the Cinta Larga lands, Ms. Santos says the miners will return, and the illegal mining will resume, rekindling tensions.

The way to bring peace to the region, she says, is to give the Cinta Larga the legal right to mine on their territory, then regulate and control it. Under the Brazilian Constitution, however, the only way to give the Cinta Larga the right to mine would be through the passage of a special act of congress.

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