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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a tiny clearing within in the of Peru Amazon when he heard footsteps coming closer through the dense forest.

He became aware that he stood hemmed in, and froze.

“One person was standing, directing with an projectile,” he remembers. “And somehow he detected I was here and I began to flee.”

He ended up encountering the Mashco Piro tribe. For a long time, Tomas—dwelling in the tiny community of Nueva Oceania—had been practically a neighbor to these wandering individuals, who reject contact with foreigners.

An updated study by a human rights organisation states exist no fewer than 196 termed “isolated tribes” in existence globally. The group is considered to be the largest. It says 50% of these communities might be eliminated in the next decade if governments don't do more measures to safeguard them.

It claims the biggest dangers come from deforestation, digging or operations for oil. Isolated tribes are exceptionally susceptible to ordinary sickness—as such, the report states a risk is caused by exposure with proselytizers and social media influencers seeking clicks.

In recent times, Mashco Piro people have been appearing to Nueva Oceania more and more, based on accounts from locals.

Nueva Oceania is a angling hamlet of several families, perched atop on the shores of the Tauhamanu River deep within the of Peru jungle, a ten-hour journey from the closest town by boat.

The territory is not recognised as a preserved reserve for uncontacted groups, and timber firms work here.

Tomas reports that, on occasion, the racket of heavy equipment can be noticed day and night, and the community are seeing their woodland disrupted and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, inhabitants say they are divided. They fear the tribal weapons but they hold profound respect for their “kin” dwelling in the jungle and desire to defend them.

“Allow them to live according to their traditions, we must not alter their traditions. This is why we keep our distance,” states Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the destruction to the tribe's survival, the threat of aggression and the chance that timber workers might expose the tribe to diseases they have no defense to.

During a visit in the community, the group made themselves known again. A young mother, a young mother with a young daughter, was in the jungle gathering produce when she noticed them.

“There were shouting, sounds from others, many of them. As though it was a large gathering calling out,” she informed us.

This marked the first instance she had come across the group and she escaped. Subsequently, her thoughts was continually pounding from terror.

“Because operate loggers and companies cutting down the woodland they are escaping, maybe due to terror and they arrive in proximity to us,” she stated. “We are uncertain how they might react to us. That's what scares me.”

Two years ago, two loggers were confronted by the tribe while catching fish. One was wounded by an projectile to the abdomen. He lived, but the other man was found dead after several days with nine arrow wounds in his physique.

Authorities in Peru maintains a approach of no engagement with isolated people, making it illegal to commence contact with them.

This approach began in Brazil following many years of advocacy by community representatives, who saw that first interaction with isolated people resulted to whole populations being decimated by illness, hardship and hunger.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau community in Peru made initial contact with the outside world, a significant portion of their population perished within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua people suffered the same fate.

“Remote tribes are very susceptible—in terms of health, any interaction could spread sicknesses, and even the simplest ones could wipe them out,” says a representative from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “Culturally too, any contact or interference can be very harmful to their way of life and well-being as a society.”

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