🔗 Share this article

The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a small clearing deep in the of Peru rainforest when he detected footsteps drawing near through the dense forest.

He became aware he was encircled, and halted.

“One person positioned, pointing with an projectile,” he remembers. “Somehow he noticed of my presence and I started to run.”

He had come face to face the Mashco Piro tribe. For decades, Tomas—residing in the tiny village of Nueva Oceania—had been practically a local to these itinerant people, who reject engagement with outsiders.

An updated study issued by a advocacy organization claims there are no fewer than 196 described as “isolated tribes” left in the world. The Mashco Piro is thought to be the most numerous. The report states 50% of these groups may be wiped out over the coming ten years if governments neglect to implement further actions to defend them.

The report asserts the biggest threats are from deforestation, extraction or operations for petroleum. Isolated tribes are exceptionally susceptible to basic disease—consequently, the study notes a risk is caused by exposure with evangelical missionaries and online personalities in pursuit of engagement.

Lately, the Mashco Piro have been coming to Nueva Oceania more and more, based on accounts from inhabitants.

The village is a angling village of seven or eight clans, located high on the shores of the Tauhamanu waterway in the heart of the Peruvian rainforest, a ten-hour journey from the nearest town by watercraft.

The territory is not classified as a protected area for uncontacted groups, and logging companies function here.

According to Tomas that, at times, the sound of industrial tools can be noticed day and night, and the tribe members are observing their woodland damaged and destroyed.

Within the village, residents report they are divided. They dread the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also possess strong admiration for their “brothers” residing in the jungle and want to protect them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we can't alter their way of life. This is why we keep our space,” says Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the harm to the community's way of life, the risk of violence and the possibility that deforestation crews might subject the Mashco Piro to illnesses they have no immunity to.

At the time in the village, the tribe appeared again. A young mother, a woman with a toddler girl, was in the forest picking produce when she heard them.

“There were shouting, cries from others, a large number of them. Like it was a large gathering calling out,” she informed us.

That was the first instance she had encountered the tribe and she ran. An hour later, her mind was continually racing from fear.

“Because there are loggers and companies cutting down the woodland they are escaping, perhaps because of dread and they end up close to us,” she explained. “We don't know what their response may be with us. This is what frightens me.”

In 2022, a pair of timber workers were assaulted by the Mashco Piro while fishing. One was hit by an bow to the stomach. He lived, but the second individual was found dead subsequently with multiple puncture marks in his body.

The administration has a policy of non-contact with remote tribes, establishing it as prohibited to start interactions with them.

The policy originated in Brazil following many years of lobbying by indigenous rights groups, who observed that initial interaction with remote tribes resulted to entire groups being wiped out by disease, hardship and malnutrition.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau tribe in the country came into contact with the outside world, a significant portion of their community perished within a matter of years. A decade later, the Muruhanua people experienced the same fate.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are extremely vulnerable—from a disease perspective, any contact might transmit diseases, and even the basic infections might eliminate them,” explains Issrail Aquisse from a tribal support group. “In cultural terms, any contact or intrusion may be very harmful to their existence and health as a society.”

For local residents of {