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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny open space deep in the Peruvian jungle when he heard footsteps drawing near through the dense woodland.

He realized that he had been hemmed in, and froze.

“One person stood, aiming with an projectile,” he recalls. “Somehow he became aware I was here and I started to escape.”

He found himself face to face the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—dwelling in the small settlement of Nueva Oceania—had been virtually a neighbor to these wandering tribe, who reject engagement with strangers.

A new study from a human rights group indicates there are a minimum of 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” in existence in the world. The Mashco Piro is believed to be the largest. The report claims 50% of these tribes might be decimated over the coming ten years if governments fail to take more measures to safeguard them.

It claims the biggest threats come from deforestation, extraction or exploration for crude. Remote communities are exceptionally vulnerable to common sickness—therefore, it notes a risk is posed by contact with religious missionaries and social media influencers in pursuit of attention.

In recent times, the Mashco Piro have been venturing to Nueva Oceania more and more, based on accounts from residents.

The village is a fishing community of seven or eight families, perched elevated on the shores of the Tauhamanu waterway deep within the of Peru Amazon, half a day from the closest town by watercraft.

The area is not classified as a protected zone for remote communities, and deforestation operations work here.

Tomas says that, at times, the noise of industrial tools can be heard day and night, and the Mashco Piro people are witnessing their forest disrupted and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, inhabitants report they are torn. They are afraid of the tribal weapons but they also have profound respect for their “relatives” residing in the jungle and desire to protect them.

“Permit them to live in their own way, we can't alter their way of life. For this reason we keep our space,” states Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the damage to the community's way of life, the danger of aggression and the chance that timber workers might subject the community to illnesses they have no immunity to.

During a visit in the village, the group made themselves known again. Letitia, a resident with a two-year-old girl, was in the woodland gathering food when she noticed them.

“We heard cries, sounds from individuals, many of them. As though there was a large gathering shouting,” she shared with us.

It was the initial occasion she had come across the Mashco Piro and she ran. Subsequently, her mind was still racing from anxiety.

“Since exist deforestation crews and firms destroying the woodland they're running away, maybe because of dread and they end up near us,” she explained. “We don't know how they might react with us. That is the thing that frightens me.”

Recently, two individuals were attacked by the Mashco Piro while catching fish. One was wounded by an projectile to the gut. He lived, but the other man was discovered deceased days later with nine arrow wounds in his frame.

Authorities in Peru follows a policy of avoiding interaction with isolated people, making it forbidden to start contact with them.

The policy was first adopted in a nearby nation following many years of campaigning by indigenous rights groups, who noted that initial interaction with remote tribes could lead to entire groups being eliminated by sickness, poverty and hunger.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau people in Peru came into contact with the world outside, 50% of their population died within a matter of years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua tribe experienced the similar destiny.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are very susceptible—from a disease perspective, any contact could introduce diseases, and including the simplest ones could decimate them,” says an advocate from a tribal support group. “In cultural terms, any interaction or intrusion can be very harmful to their way of life and well-being as a society.”

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