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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small clearing far in the of Peru rainforest when he noticed movements coming closer through the thick jungle.

It dawned on him that he stood surrounded, and stood still.

“A single individual stood, directing with an arrow,” he states. “Somehow he noticed I was here and I commenced to escape.”

He found himself confronting the Mashco Piro. Over many years, Tomas—dwelling in the modest settlement of Nueva Oceania—had been almost a neighbour to these itinerant people, who shun contact with outsiders.

An updated study by a human rights organisation indicates there are no fewer than 196 of what it calls “remote communities” left worldwide. This tribe is believed to be the largest. The report states a significant portion of these communities might be decimated in the next decade should administrations fail to take more actions to defend them.

It argues the most significant risks are from deforestation, mining or operations for oil. Isolated tribes are highly at risk to basic illness—as such, the report notes a risk is posed by contact with proselytizers and online personalities in pursuit of engagement.

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

This settlement is a fishing hamlet of a handful of families, perched elevated on the shores of the Tauhamanu River deep within the of Peru Amazon, half a day from the nearest settlement by canoe.

This region is not recognised as a safeguarded zone for remote communities, and deforestation operations function here.

Tomas says that, on occasion, the sound of logging machinery can be heard around the clock, and the Mashco Piro people are witnessing their jungle damaged and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, people state they are torn. They dread the projectiles but they also have deep admiration for their “brothers” dwelling in the forest and want to protect them.

“Let them live in their own way, we can't change their way of life. For this reason we maintain our space,” states Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the damage to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the risk of aggression and the likelihood that deforestation crews might subject the Mashco Piro to illnesses they have no immunity to.

While we were in the village, the tribe made their presence felt again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a resident with a two-year-old child, was in the woodland gathering food when she detected them.

“We detected calls, sounds from others, many of them. As if there was a large gathering calling out,” she informed us.

That was the initial occasion she had encountered the group and she fled. After sixty minutes, her thoughts was continually racing from anxiety.

“Because exist timber workers and operations cutting down the woodland they are escaping, maybe out of fear and they arrive in proximity to us,” she said. “We don't know how they will behave to us. This is what frightens me.”

Two years ago, two individuals were assaulted by the tribe while fishing. One man was wounded by an bow to the abdomen. He recovered, but the second individual was located dead subsequently with several arrow wounds in his body.

Authorities in Peru maintains a policy of avoiding interaction with secluded communities, making it illegal to commence interactions with them.

This approach originated in the neighboring country after decades of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who observed that initial contact with secluded communities resulted to whole populations being decimated by sickness, poverty and malnutrition.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau people in the country made initial contact with the world outside, a significant portion of their people died within a matter of years. A decade later, the Muruhanua tribe experienced the similar destiny.

“Secluded communities are highly susceptible—epidemiologically, any exposure may introduce sicknesses, and including the basic infections might eliminate them,” states Issrail Aquisse from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “In cultural terms, any interaction or intrusion can be very harmful to their life and survival as a group.”

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