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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a small open space deep in the Peruvian rainforest when he noticed movements drawing near through the thick woodland.

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

“One person was standing, pointing using an projectile,” he remembers. “Somehow he became aware I was here and I started to flee.”

He had come encountering members of the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—dwelling in the tiny settlement of Nueva Oceania—was virtually a neighbor to these wandering people, who shun contact with foreigners.

A new study by a human rights group claims remain a minimum of 196 termed “remote communities” left worldwide. This tribe is considered to be the biggest. The report states half of these communities could be wiped out over the coming ten years if governments don't do further actions to defend them.

It claims the biggest risks stem from timber harvesting, digging or drilling for oil. Uncontacted groups are exceptionally vulnerable to common sickness—as such, it notes a danger is caused by interaction with religious missionaries and digital content creators looking for engagement.

Lately, Mashco Piro people have been coming to Nueva Oceania increasingly, as reported by residents.

This settlement is a fishing village of several families, perched elevated on the banks of the local river deep within the Peruvian Amazon, 10 hours from the nearest village by canoe.

The territory is not designated as a safeguarded zone for uncontacted groups, and logging companies function here.

According to Tomas that, at times, the sound of industrial tools can be heard day and night, and the community are witnessing their forest damaged and devastated.

Within the village, residents report they are torn. They are afraid of the projectiles but they also possess profound regard for their “brothers” residing in the forest and wish to defend them.

“Let them live in their own way, we can't change their traditions. This is why we maintain our space,” explains Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are worried about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the threat of violence and the chance that loggers might introduce the tribe to diseases they have no defense to.

At the time in the settlement, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. A young mother, a young mother with a young daughter, was in the forest collecting food when she noticed them.

“We detected cries, sounds from others, many of them. As if there were a large gathering calling out,” she shared with us.

That was the initial occasion she had come across the tribe and she ran. After sixty minutes, her mind was persistently pounding from fear.

“Because operate timber workers and companies cutting down the woodland they are fleeing, maybe out of fear and they arrive near us,” she stated. “We don't know how they might react with us. That's what frightens me.”

In 2022, two individuals were attacked by the group while catching fish. One was wounded by an bow to the stomach. He survived, but the other man was found deceased days later with several puncture marks in his body.

The administration has a approach of no engagement with remote tribes, rendering it illegal to commence encounters with them.

The policy was first adopted in the neighboring country after decades of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who observed that early exposure with isolated people lead to entire groups being wiped out by disease, destitution and malnutrition.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau people in the country first encountered with the broader society, half of their people succumbed within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua community experienced the similar destiny.

“Remote tribes are extremely at risk—from a disease perspective, any exposure could spread diseases, and even the basic infections might wipe them out,” states a representative from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “Culturally too, any interaction or disruption can be extremely detrimental to their life and health as a community.”

For those living nearby of {