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Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a small open space far in the Peruvian jungle when he noticed sounds approaching through the dense woodland.

He became aware he was surrounded, and stood still.

“One stood, pointing with an bow and arrow,” he remembers. “And somehow he became aware I was here and I began to run.”

He had come confronting members of the Mashco Piro. Over many years, Tomas—residing in the modest settlement of Nueva Oceania—served as practically a neighbour to these nomadic tribe, who reject interaction with foreigners.

A new report from a advocacy group indicates there are no fewer than 196 termed “isolated tribes” in existence in the world. This tribe is thought to be the most numerous. It claims a significant portion of these groups may be eliminated in the next decade if governments neglect to implement more actions to defend them.

It argues the greatest risks come from deforestation, mining or operations for crude. Uncontacted groups are highly vulnerable to common disease—therefore, the study notes a threat is presented by contact with evangelical missionaries and online personalities in pursuit of attention.

Recently, the Mashco Piro have been appearing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, as reported by locals.

The village is a fishing village of seven or eight clans, sitting atop on the shores of the local river deep within the Peruvian rainforest, a ten-hour journey from the closest village by boat.

The area is not designated as a preserved reserve for uncontacted groups, and logging companies work here.

Tomas reports that, on occasion, the racket of industrial tools can be heard continuously, and the tribe members are witnessing their jungle damaged and devastated.

Within the village, inhabitants report they are conflicted. They dread the tribal weapons but they hold strong admiration for their “brothers” residing in the woodland and want to defend them.

“Let them live as they live, we are unable to change their culture. That's why we keep our space,” says Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the destruction to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the threat of violence and the possibility that timber workers might introduce the Mashco Piro to sicknesses they have no defense to.

During a visit in the settlement, the group made their presence felt again. Letitia, a woman with a young daughter, was in the forest collecting fruit when she noticed them.

“There were calls, shouts from people, a large number of them. As if there was a whole group yelling,” she informed us.

It was the first instance she had encountered the group and she ran. An hour later, her mind was persistently throbbing from anxiety.

“Because operate loggers and firms destroying the jungle they are escaping, perhaps out of fear and they arrive close to us,” she stated. “We don't know how they will behave to us. That is the thing that frightens me.”

In 2022, two individuals were confronted by the Mashco Piro while angling. A single person was hit by an arrow to the gut. He recovered, but the other man was discovered deceased after several days with several injuries in his frame.

The Peruvian government maintains a strategy of avoiding interaction with isolated people, making it forbidden to initiate interactions with them.

The strategy began in Brazil after decades of campaigning by community representatives, who observed that early exposure with remote tribes resulted to entire groups being decimated by sickness, hardship and starvation.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau community in the country made initial contact with the outside world, a significant portion of their people died within a short period. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua community suffered the same fate.

“Remote tribes are highly susceptible—in terms of health, any exposure might transmit diseases, and even the simplest ones may wipe them out,” says an advocate from a tribal support group. “Culturally too, any contact or interference could be extremely detrimental to their existence and well-being as a group.”

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