🔗 Share this article

Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small glade far in the of Peru Amazon when he detected movements drawing near through the dense forest.

He realized that he stood hemmed in, and froze.

“A single individual stood, directing using an projectile,” he states. “Unexpectedly he detected that I was present and I started to run.”

He had come encountering the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—dwelling in the small settlement of Nueva Oceania—was almost a local to these itinerant tribe, who reject interaction with foreigners.

A recent report issued by a advocacy organisation claims there are a minimum of 196 described as “isolated tribes” in existence worldwide. The Mashco Piro is considered to be the most numerous. It says a significant portion of these groups could be eliminated in the next decade unless authorities don't do more to protect them.

The report asserts the greatest dangers stem from deforestation, digging or operations for oil. Isolated tribes are exceptionally susceptible to basic illness—as such, the study says a danger is presented by contact with religious missionaries and social media influencers seeking engagement.

Lately, members of the tribe have been coming to Nueva Oceania increasingly, based on accounts from locals.

This settlement is a fishing village of several households, sitting atop on the shores of the Tauhamanu waterway deep within the Peruvian rainforest, 10 hours from the most accessible town by boat.

This region is not classified as a preserved area for uncontacted groups, and deforestation operations work here.

Tomas says that, at times, the racket of heavy equipment can be heard around the clock, and the Mashco Piro people are witnessing their jungle damaged and devastated.

Within the village, inhabitants state they are torn. They are afraid of the projectiles but they also have profound respect for their “brothers” dwelling in the woodland and desire to protect them.

“Let them live according to their traditions, we are unable to modify their way of life. For this reason we preserve our space,” states Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the danger of violence and the possibility that deforestation crews might introduce the tribe to sicknesses they have no immunity to.

During a visit in the settlement, the Mashco Piro made their presence felt again. A young mother, a woman with a two-year-old girl, was in the jungle collecting food when she noticed them.

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

It was the initial occasion she had come across the Mashco Piro and she escaped. After sixty minutes, her head was still racing from anxiety.

“Since there are deforestation crews and firms cutting down the jungle they're running away, maybe out of fear and they come close to us,” she said. “It is unclear how they will behave to us. That is the thing that terrifies me.”

In 2022, a pair of timber workers were confronted by the group while fishing. A single person was wounded by an projectile to the abdomen. He recovered, but the other person was discovered deceased days later with nine puncture marks in his frame.

The Peruvian government maintains a strategy of no engagement with isolated people, making it illegal to initiate interactions with them.

This approach was first adopted in a nearby nation following many years of lobbying by tribal advocacy organizations, who noted that early contact with remote tribes resulted to entire communities being wiped out by disease, poverty and starvation.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in Peru made initial contact with the outside world, half of their community perished within a matter of years. A decade later, the Muruhanua community suffered the similar destiny.

“Remote tribes are very vulnerable—from a disease perspective, any exposure could spread sicknesses, and even the basic infections may eliminate them,” states Issrail Aquisse from a local advocacy organization. “In cultural terms, any interaction or disruption can be very harmful to their life and health as a group.”

For local residents of {