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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a small clearing far in the Peruvian Amazon when he detected sounds drawing near through the thick woodland.

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

“One stood, pointing with an projectile,” he remembers. “Unexpectedly he became aware of my presence and I started to flee.”

He ended up encountering members of the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—residing in the tiny community of Nueva Oceania—was virtually a neighbour to these wandering people, who avoid contact with foreigners.

An updated report from a human rights group states exist no fewer than 196 described as “remote communities” in existence worldwide. The group is considered to be the largest. It says a significant portion of these tribes might be decimated within ten years should administrations don't do additional to protect them.

It claims the greatest risks come from timber harvesting, mining or exploration for petroleum. Isolated tribes are extremely vulnerable to basic illness—as such, it notes a danger is presented by exposure with evangelical missionaries and social media influencers seeking engagement.

Recently, members of the tribe have been venturing to Nueva Oceania more and more, based on accounts from inhabitants.

This settlement is a fishermen's hamlet of several clans, perched elevated on the shores of the Tauhamanu River in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, half a day from the closest village by boat.

The territory is not recognised as a safeguarded reserve for remote communities, and logging companies operate here.

Tomas reports that, sometimes, the noise of industrial tools can be heard around the clock, and the community are seeing their woodland damaged and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, residents report they are divided. They dread the projectiles but they hold deep respect for their “kin” who live in the woodland and desire to defend them.

“Allow them to live according to their traditions, we are unable to change their traditions. For this reason we maintain our separation,” says Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are worried about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the threat of violence and the likelihood that loggers might expose the Mashco Piro to sicknesses they have no defense to.

At the time in the settlement, the Mashco Piro made their presence felt again. A young mother, a young mother with a toddler girl, was in the woodland collecting food when she detected them.

“We detected cries, sounds from others, a large number of them. Like there was a crowd shouting,” she told us.

That was the first instance she had met the group and she fled. An hour later, her thoughts was persistently racing from terror.

“Since there are timber workers and companies clearing the forest they are fleeing, perhaps because of dread and they come near us,” she explained. “We are uncertain what their response may be to us. That is the thing that terrifies me.”

In 2022, two individuals were assaulted by the tribe while angling. One was struck by an bow to the gut. He lived, but the other man was discovered lifeless subsequently with nine puncture marks in his physique.

The administration maintains a strategy of non-contact with secluded communities, establishing it as illegal to initiate contact with them.

This approach began in the neighboring country subsequent to prolonged of lobbying by indigenous rights groups, who noted that initial exposure with isolated people could lead to entire communities being eliminated by disease, poverty and malnutrition.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau people in Peru came into contact with the world outside, a significant portion of their community perished within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua people experienced the similar destiny.

“Secluded communities are very at risk—in terms of health, any contact may transmit sicknesses, and even the basic infections could eliminate them,” says an advocate from a tribal support group. “Culturally too, any interaction or intrusion may be highly damaging to their life and survival as a group.”

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