🔗 Share this article

Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a tiny open space deep in the Peruvian rainforest when he detected movements approaching through the lush jungle.

It dawned on him that he had been encircled, and halted.

“One stood, pointing with an bow and arrow,” he remembers. “And somehow he detected of my presence and I started to escape.”

He had come encountering the Mashco Piro. Over many years, Tomas—who lives in the tiny village of Nueva Oceania—had been virtually a neighbor to these nomadic people, who shun interaction with outsiders.

A new report by a rights group indicates remain at least 196 described as “isolated tribes” in existence in the world. The group is considered to be the largest. It states a significant portion of these tribes might be eliminated over the coming ten years unless authorities neglect to implement additional actions to defend them.

It argues the biggest risks come from deforestation, mining or drilling for petroleum. Isolated tribes are extremely at risk to common sickness—therefore, it notes a threat is presented by contact with proselytizers and online personalities in pursuit of engagement.

Recently, the Mashco Piro have been coming to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, as reported by locals.

This settlement is a fishing community of seven or eight clans, perched atop on the shores of the local river in the center of the Peruvian Amazon, 10 hours from the most accessible settlement by canoe.

The territory is not classified as a preserved zone for isolated tribes, and deforestation operations operate here.

According to Tomas that, sometimes, the racket of logging machinery can be detected continuously, and the Mashco Piro people are seeing their jungle damaged and destroyed.

Within the village, residents say they are conflicted. They are afraid of the tribal weapons but they also possess strong respect for their “brothers” who live in the jungle and want to safeguard them.

“Let them live in their own way, we are unable to change their culture. That's why we keep our separation,” explains Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the damage to the community's way of life, the risk of violence and the possibility that loggers might introduce the Mashco Piro to sicknesses they have no defense to.

During a visit in the village, the Mashco Piro appeared again. Letitia, a resident with a toddler daughter, was in the forest picking produce when she heard them.

“We detected cries, cries from others, numerous of them. As though it was a crowd yelling,” she informed us.

That was the first time she had come across the tribe and she fled. Subsequently, her mind was still pounding from fear.

“Because exist loggers and companies cutting down the woodland they are escaping, possibly due to terror and they arrive in proximity to us,” she stated. “We don't know how they will behave with us. That's what scares me.”

Recently, two loggers were assaulted by the Mashco Piro while catching fish. A single person was hit by an arrow to the abdomen. He survived, but the other person was found lifeless after several days with several puncture marks in his physique.

Authorities in Peru follows a approach of avoiding interaction with isolated people, rendering it prohibited to start interactions with them.

This approach began in a nearby nation after decades of lobbying by community representatives, who noted that first interaction with secluded communities resulted to entire groups being eliminated by sickness, hardship and hunger.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau community in the country first encountered with the broader society, a significant portion of their population perished within a few years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua community experienced the identical outcome.

“Remote tribes are highly vulnerable—epidemiologically, any exposure may spread sicknesses, and even the most common illnesses may eliminate them,” states an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “Culturally too, any exposure or intrusion could be extremely detrimental to their life and well-being as a group.”

For the neighbours of {