🔗 Share this article

The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a small glade within in the Peruvian jungle when he noticed movements drawing near through the lush forest.

He realized that he stood encircled, and halted.

“One person positioned, directing with an bow and arrow,” he states. “Unexpectedly he noticed of my presence and I started to escape.”

He found himself face to face the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—who lives in the tiny community of Nueva Oceania—had been practically a neighbor to these itinerant tribe, who avoid interaction with strangers.

A recent study issued by a rights organisation indicates remain a minimum of 196 termed “uncontacted groups” in existence in the world. The group is considered to be the most numerous. It says 50% of these communities could be wiped out in the next decade if governments don't do further measures to safeguard them.

It claims the greatest dangers are from deforestation, mining or operations for oil. Remote communities are highly vulnerable to basic illness—as such, the study states a danger is posed by interaction with religious missionaries and online personalities in pursuit of attention.

Lately, the Mashco Piro have been coming to Nueva Oceania more and more, as reported by residents.

The village is a fishing hamlet of a handful of families, perched high on the banks of the Tauhamanu River in the heart of the of Peru jungle, 10 hours from the most accessible village by boat.

This region is not recognised as a safeguarded area for isolated tribes, and timber firms function here.

Tomas reports that, sometimes, the sound of industrial tools can be heard day and night, and the Mashco Piro people are witnessing their jungle disrupted and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, residents state they are divided. They fear the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also possess deep admiration for their “brothers” residing in the forest and wish to safeguard them.

“Allow them to live according to their traditions, we can't change their traditions. This is why we maintain our separation,” explains Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are worried about the damage to the tribe's survival, the threat of violence and the likelihood that deforestation crews might expose the Mashco Piro to sicknesses they have no resistance to.

While we were in the community, the tribe made their presence felt again. A young mother, a young mother with a toddler daughter, was in the woodland collecting food when she heard them.

“We heard shouting, cries from others, many of them. As though there was a whole group calling out,” she informed us.

That was the first instance she had met the Mashco Piro and she escaped. Subsequently, her thoughts was still throbbing from fear.

“Since operate timber workers and firms cutting down the woodland they are escaping, perhaps due to terror and they end up near us,” she explained. “It is unclear what their response may be towards us. This is what terrifies me.”

Two years ago, two loggers were attacked by the tribe while fishing. A single person was hit by an bow to the abdomen. He recovered, but the other man was discovered lifeless subsequently with several puncture marks in his body.

The administration has a strategy of avoiding interaction with isolated people, rendering it forbidden to commence contact with them.

This approach was first adopted in the neighboring country after decades of lobbying by indigenous rights groups, who saw that early exposure with secluded communities could lead to entire communities being wiped out by illness, destitution and malnutrition.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in the country made initial contact with the world outside, 50% of their people died within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua community suffered the similar destiny.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are highly susceptible—in terms of health, any exposure could transmit sicknesses, and even the basic infections may eliminate them,” states a representative from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “Culturally too, any exposure or disruption can be extremely detrimental to their existence and health as a community.”

For those living nearby of {