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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny glade deep in the Peruvian Amazon when he detected movements coming closer through the lush jungle.

He realized that he stood hemmed in, and froze.

“One person positioned, directing with an arrow,” he recalls. “Unexpectedly he detected I was here and I began to escape.”

He ended up confronting members of the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—residing in the small settlement of Nueva Oceania—was virtually a local to these itinerant people, who avoid interaction with foreigners.

A new document by a advocacy group states exist a minimum of 196 termed “isolated tribes” left globally. The Mashco Piro is believed to be the largest. The report says half of these tribes could be wiped out within ten years should administrations neglect to implement further measures to safeguard them.

It claims the greatest threats come from deforestation, extraction or exploration for oil. Isolated tribes are exceptionally at risk to ordinary sickness—consequently, the report says a threat is caused by interaction with proselytizers and social media influencers seeking engagement.

In recent times, Mashco Piro people have been coming to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, as reported by inhabitants.

This settlement is a fishing village of several clans, perched elevated on the edges of the local river in the heart of the of Peru jungle, a ten-hour journey from the closest town by canoe.

The territory is not recognised as a protected area for uncontacted groups, and logging companies work here.

Tomas reports that, sometimes, the sound of logging machinery can be noticed day and night, and the community are seeing their woodland damaged and ruined.

In Nueva Oceania, inhabitants say they are conflicted. They dread the Mashco Piro's arrows but they hold deep regard for their “relatives” who live in the forest and desire to safeguard them.

“Allow them to live as they live, we can't modify their way of life. That's why we maintain our separation,” explains Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the damage to the community's way of life, the threat of violence and the possibility that deforestation crews might subject the Mashco Piro to illnesses they have no defense to.

During a visit in the village, the Mashco Piro made their presence felt again. Letitia, a young mother with a toddler child, was in the jungle picking food when she heard them.

“We detected calls, shouts from others, a large number of them. Like it was a crowd yelling,” she told us.

This marked the first time she had encountered the Mashco Piro and she escaped. An hour later, her mind was continually racing from terror.

“As operate loggers and operations clearing the forest they are fleeing, perhaps due to terror and they arrive close to us,” she said. “We are uncertain how they might react with us. That is the thing that frightens me.”

In 2022, two individuals were confronted by the tribe while angling. A single person was wounded by an arrow to the gut. He recovered, but the second individual was discovered deceased after several days with multiple injuries in his body.

The administration has a strategy of avoiding interaction with secluded communities, establishing it as prohibited to initiate contact with them.

The policy originated in a nearby nation following many years of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who saw that initial interaction with remote tribes lead to whole populations being eliminated by illness, destitution and malnutrition.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau community in Peru first encountered with the outside world, half of their population succumbed within a matter of years. A decade later, the Muruhanua tribe suffered the identical outcome.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are very susceptible—in terms of health, any exposure could introduce diseases, and even the basic infections might eliminate them,” explains an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any interaction or interference may be extremely detrimental to their existence and well-being as a group.”

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