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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a modest glade deep in the Peruvian rainforest when he detected sounds coming closer through the lush jungle.

He realized that he had been hemmed in, and stood still.

“One person positioned, directing with an projectile,” he states. “Unexpectedly he noticed that I was present and I started to run.”

He had come confronting the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—who lives in the modest settlement of Nueva Oceania—had been almost a neighbour to these itinerant individuals, who reject contact with strangers.

An updated report from a rights organisation states exist no fewer than 196 of what it calls “uncontacted groups” left in the world. The Mashco Piro is considered to be the largest. The report states 50% of these communities may be eliminated in the next decade unless authorities fail to take further measures to safeguard them.

It claims the most significant risks stem from logging, mining or exploration for oil. Remote communities are highly susceptible to ordinary disease—as such, the study notes a danger is presented by interaction with religious missionaries and online personalities looking for engagement.

In recent times, Mashco Piro people have been coming to Nueva Oceania more and more, based on accounts from inhabitants.

Nueva Oceania is a fishermen's community of several clans, perched high on the edges of the local river deep within the Peruvian jungle, half a day from the closest settlement by canoe.

This region is not recognised as a safeguarded reserve for uncontacted groups, and timber firms work here.

Tomas says that, on occasion, the noise of industrial tools can be noticed continuously, and the Mashco Piro people are seeing their jungle damaged and ruined.

In Nueva Oceania, residents report they are torn. They fear the tribal weapons but they also possess strong regard for their “kin” dwelling in the forest and desire to defend them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we can't change their culture. That's why we keep our space,” says Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the damage to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the threat of conflict and the likelihood that loggers might subject the Mashco Piro to diseases they have no defense to.

While we were in the village, the group made their presence felt again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a resident with a young girl, was in the jungle collecting food when she heard them.

“We detected shouting, sounds from others, a large number of them. Like there was a whole group calling out,” she told us.

It was the first time she had met the Mashco Piro and she fled. Subsequently, her head was persistently racing from terror.

“Since operate timber workers and operations destroying the jungle they are escaping, possibly due to terror and they come in proximity to us,” she explained. “We don't know what their response may be with us. This is what frightens me.”

Two years ago, a pair of timber workers were assaulted by the group while angling. A single person was hit by an bow to the abdomen. He survived, but the other person was located lifeless subsequently with several injuries in his body.

The Peruvian government has a policy of avoiding interaction with remote tribes, making it prohibited to start interactions with them.

This approach began in Brazil subsequent to prolonged of lobbying by tribal advocacy organizations, who noted that early contact with remote tribes could lead to whole populations being eliminated by disease, poverty and starvation.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau community in the country came into contact with the world outside, half of their community died within a short period. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua community experienced the identical outcome.

“Remote tribes are highly vulnerable—in terms of health, any contact could introduce illnesses, and even the most common illnesses may decimate them,” states a representative from a local advocacy organization. “In cultural terms, any contact or intrusion could be highly damaging to their existence and health as a society.”

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