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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a modest glade within in the Peruvian Amazon when he detected sounds approaching through the lush forest.

He became aware he was encircled, and froze.

“One stood, pointing with an projectile,” he remembers. “And somehow he detected of my presence and I commenced to run.”

He had come confronting the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—dwelling in the small village of Nueva Oceania—served as virtually a neighbour to these nomadic individuals, who reject interaction with strangers.

A recent document from a rights organisation indicates there are a minimum of 196 of what it calls “remote communities” left in the world. The group is considered to be the biggest. The report claims 50% of these communities may be eliminated in the next decade unless authorities don't do additional measures to safeguard them.

It argues the most significant risks come from logging, digging or drilling for crude. Uncontacted groups are highly susceptible to basic illness—consequently, the report says a risk is caused by interaction with religious missionaries and digital content creators looking for engagement.

In recent times, the Mashco Piro have been venturing to Nueva Oceania more and more, as reported by locals.

Nueva Oceania is a fishermen's village of seven or eight households, perched elevated on the banks of the local river in the heart of the of Peru rainforest, a ten-hour journey from the nearest town by boat.

The area is not classified as a safeguarded area for remote communities, and timber firms function here.

According to Tomas that, at times, the noise of industrial tools can be heard continuously, and the Mashco Piro people are witnessing their jungle disturbed and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, residents report they are torn. They are afraid of the projectiles but they also possess profound admiration for their “relatives” residing in the jungle and wish to safeguard them.

“Allow them to live in their own way, we are unable to modify their culture. For this reason we keep our separation,” explains Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are worried about the destruction to the tribe's survival, the threat of violence and the chance that timber workers might introduce the tribe to illnesses they have no defense to.

During a visit in the settlement, the group made themselves known again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a young mother with a toddler daughter, was in the jungle collecting produce when she detected them.

“There were shouting, sounds from individuals, a large number of them. Like there was a whole group calling out,” she shared with us.

It was the first instance she had come across the tribe and she escaped. After sixty minutes, her mind was persistently pounding from fear.

“As exist timber workers and operations destroying the jungle they're running away, possibly due to terror and they end up close to us,” she said. “We are uncertain how they will behave with us. This is what scares me.”

Two years ago, a pair of timber workers were assaulted by the tribe while fishing. One was struck by an arrow to the gut. He lived, but the other man was discovered lifeless subsequently with nine injuries in his body.

The administration has a strategy of non-contact with isolated people, rendering it forbidden to initiate contact with them.

This approach originated in the neighboring country after decades of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who noted that first interaction with secluded communities lead to entire communities being eliminated by sickness, destitution and starvation.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau community in the country made initial contact with the outside world, half of their people died within a short period. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua community faced the same fate.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are very at risk—from a disease perspective, any contact may introduce diseases, and including the most common illnesses may decimate them,” explains a representative from a tribal support group. “From a societal perspective, any contact or disruption may be very harmful to their way of life and survival as a community.”

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