Kin throughout this Woodland: The Battle to Defend an Remote Amazon Group

Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a tiny glade deep in the Peruvian Amazon when he noticed movements drawing near through the thick jungle.

He became aware that he stood surrounded, and halted.

“One person was standing, pointing using an projectile,” he remembers. “Somehow he became aware of my presence and I started to run.”

He had come confronting the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—who lives in the small community of Nueva Oceania—had been almost a neighbour to these wandering people, who shun engagement with outsiders.

A recent report issued by a rights organization indicates there are at least 196 of what it calls “remote communities” in existence in the world. This tribe is believed to be the largest. It says half of these communities might be wiped out within ten years if governments neglect to implement more measures to safeguard them.

The report asserts the most significant threats come from deforestation, extraction or exploration for crude. Uncontacted groups are highly vulnerable to common sickness—consequently, it states a risk is presented by interaction with evangelical missionaries and online personalities seeking attention.

In recent times, Mashco Piro people have been venturing to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, based on accounts from residents.

The village is a fishing village of several clans, sitting high on the shores of the local river deep within the Peruvian jungle, half a day from the closest settlement by watercraft.

This region is not designated as a safeguarded area for isolated tribes, and logging companies operate here.

Tomas reports that, sometimes, the sound of industrial tools can be noticed day and night, and the tribe members are observing their jungle damaged and ruined.

In Nueva Oceania, residents report they are conflicted. They dread the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also have strong admiration for their “kin” residing in the jungle and wish to safeguard them.

“Let them live in their own way, we can't alter their way of life. For this reason we preserve our space,” says Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the destruction to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the risk of violence and the chance that deforestation crews might subject the community to sicknesses they have no resistance to.

At the time in the community, the group made themselves known again. Letitia, a woman with a toddler daughter, was in the jungle picking fruit when she detected them.

“We heard cries, cries from others, a large number of them. As though there was a whole group calling out,” she told us.

That was the initial occasion she had met the Mashco Piro and she fled. Subsequently, her mind was persistently throbbing from anxiety.

“Since operate timber workers and operations cutting down the jungle they are fleeing, perhaps out of fear and they come in proximity to us,” she said. “It is unclear how they will behave to us. This is what terrifies me.”

In 2022, two individuals were confronted by the group while fishing. A single person was wounded by an projectile to the stomach. He survived, but the other man was found deceased subsequently with several injuries in his body.

The administration follows a strategy of avoiding interaction with remote tribes, rendering it prohibited to commence interactions with them.

This approach began in Brazil after decades of advocacy by indigenous rights groups, who observed that initial interaction with isolated people could lead to whole populations being wiped out by illness, hardship and malnutrition.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau people in Peru came into contact with the world outside, 50% of their community succumbed within a few years. A decade later, the Muruhanua community experienced the similar destiny.

“Remote tribes are very susceptible—in terms of health, any exposure may transmit sicknesses, and even the most common illnesses might decimate them,” explains Issrail Aquisse from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any interaction or disruption may be very harmful to their way of life and survival as a community.”

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