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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny open space deep in the of Peru jungle when he detected footsteps coming closer through the lush jungle.

He became aware that he stood surrounded, and stood still.

“A single individual positioned, pointing with an bow and arrow,” he states. “Unexpectedly he became aware that I was present and I started to escape.”

He had come confronting the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—residing in the small community of Nueva Oceania—was practically a neighbour to these nomadic tribe, who reject engagement with strangers.

A recent document issued by a human rights group claims there are a minimum of 196 termed “isolated tribes” in existence worldwide. The Mashco Piro is considered to be the most numerous. The report states 50% of these tribes might be wiped out over the coming ten years if governments neglect to implement more actions to defend them.

It argues the greatest threats are from logging, digging or drilling for petroleum. Remote communities are exceptionally susceptible to common disease—therefore, the report notes a danger is presented by interaction with religious missionaries and social media influencers seeking engagement.

In recent times, members of the tribe have been venturing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, according to residents.

Nueva Oceania is a fishermen's community of several families, perched elevated on the shores of the local river deep within the Peruvian rainforest, a ten-hour journey from the most accessible town by watercraft.

The territory is not designated as a safeguarded zone for remote communities, and timber firms operate here.

Tomas says that, at times, the sound of logging machinery can be heard continuously, and the Mashco Piro people are witnessing their woodland damaged and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, inhabitants report they are divided. They fear the Mashco Piro's arrows but they hold profound regard for their “brothers” dwelling in the forest and wish to defend them.

“Permit them to live as they live, we are unable to alter their traditions. That's why we maintain our distance,” states Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are worried about the damage to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the risk of violence and the likelihood that loggers might expose the community to diseases they have no resistance to.

While we were in the village, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. Letitia, a resident with a two-year-old daughter, was in the jungle picking produce when she heard them.

“We detected shouting, sounds from individuals, many of them. As though there were a crowd calling out,” she shared with us.

It was the initial occasion she had met the group and she escaped. Subsequently, her mind was persistently throbbing from terror.

“Because exist timber workers and firms cutting down the forest they're running away, perhaps because of dread and they come in proximity to us,” she said. “We don't know how they might react to us. That's what terrifies me.”

Recently, a pair of timber workers were attacked by the tribe while catching fish. A single person was struck by an projectile to the abdomen. He lived, but the second individual was found lifeless days later with multiple arrow wounds in his physique.

The administration maintains a strategy of non-contact with isolated people, making it forbidden to commence interactions with them.

The policy originated in a nearby nation after decades of advocacy by community representatives, who noted that first contact with isolated people could lead to whole populations being decimated by disease, hardship and starvation.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau community in the country first encountered with the broader society, a significant portion of their population perished within a few years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua people suffered the similar destiny.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are very at risk—epidemiologically, any exposure could spread illnesses, and even the basic infections may eliminate them,” states an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “In cultural terms, any interaction or interference could be very harmful to their way of life and well-being as a group.”

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