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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a small glade within in the Peruvian rainforest when he detected footsteps drawing near through the dense jungle.

He realized that he had been encircled, and stood still.

“A single individual stood, aiming using an projectile,” he recalls. “Unexpectedly he became aware of my presence and I began to run.”

He ended up confronting members of the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—residing in the small village of Nueva Oceania—had been almost a local to these itinerant tribe, who avoid interaction with foreigners.

A new document issued by a advocacy organization claims remain at least 196 of what it calls “uncontacted groups” remaining in the world. The Mashco Piro is considered to be the biggest. The study says 50% of these communities could be wiped out in the next decade unless authorities neglect to implement further to protect them.

It argues the biggest risks are from deforestation, extraction or drilling for crude. Uncontacted groups are extremely vulnerable to ordinary sickness—as such, the study notes a danger is posed by contact with religious missionaries and social media influencers looking for engagement.

Lately, members of the tribe have been coming to Nueva Oceania increasingly, based on accounts from inhabitants.

This settlement is a fishermen's village of seven or eight households, located elevated on the banks of the local river deep within the of Peru Amazon, half a day from the most accessible village by boat.

The area is not classified as a preserved area for isolated tribes, and logging companies work here.

According to Tomas that, at times, the sound of logging machinery can be detected continuously, and the tribe members are observing their woodland disturbed and ruined.

In Nueva Oceania, people report they are conflicted. They dread the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also possess deep respect for their “brothers” residing in the jungle and desire to protect them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we must not alter their culture. This is why we preserve our distance,” explains Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the destruction to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the threat of violence and the chance that timber workers might introduce the tribe to illnesses they have no immunity to.

At the time in the settlement, the tribe made themselves known again. Letitia, a resident with a toddler girl, was in the woodland gathering fruit when she heard them.

“We detected cries, shouts from individuals, many of them. As though it was a large gathering shouting,” she shared with us.

That was the first time she had met the tribe and she escaped. After sixty minutes, her head was still racing from fear.

“Since there are deforestation crews and companies clearing the forest they are escaping, perhaps because of dread and they arrive in proximity to us,” she stated. “We don't know how they will behave with us. That's what scares me.”

In 2022, two loggers were confronted by the tribe while fishing. One was struck by an bow to the gut. He recovered, but the other man was found deceased after several days with several puncture marks in his body.

The Peruvian government maintains a policy of avoiding interaction with remote tribes, rendering it illegal to start contact with them.

This approach began in the neighboring country following many years of campaigning by community representatives, who observed that early contact with remote tribes resulted to entire communities being wiped out by disease, hardship and starvation.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau people in Peru came into contact with the world outside, 50% of their community perished within a few years. A decade later, the Muruhanua people experienced the similar destiny.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are extremely at risk—epidemiologically, any exposure might transmit diseases, and including the most common illnesses may wipe them out,” says Issrail Aquisse from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any interaction or interference may be very harmful to their life and survival as a community.”

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