A FATAL clash between an “uncontacted” indigenous tribe and loggers has led to two deaths and two disappearances in Peru’s Amazon rainforest.
The Mashco Piro people, thought to be the world’s biggest isolated tribe, have long avoided contact with the outside world.
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The clash occurred on Thursday in an area of the Madre de Dios region when workers who were opening a trail in the forest.
The loggers were fatally attacked by members of the tribe brandishing arrows – leaving two dead.
Two individuals are missing after the clash.
The Ministry of Culture reported the incident on Monday night and said it was investigating along with the prosecutor’s office and cops.
In a statement, the ministry said the clash “may have caused deaths, injuries and disappearances” on behalf of a logging company.
Pioneering indigenous organisation FENAMAD said in a statement on Monday that the confrontation occurred in an area near the Pariamanu River – a part of the tribe’s territory.
At least two workers have been killed by arrows, while another individual is injured and two are missing.
Members of the Mashco Piro have been seen outside their territory in recent months and are under massive pressure from the logging industry, NGO Survival International reports.
At least four people, including workers and residents of the area, have died between 2015 and 2022 in clashes with the Mascho Piro, says the Ministry of Culture.
The Mashco Piro, who inhabit an area located between two natural reserves in Madre de Dios, have seldom appeared as a rule and therefore have little to no communication with the outside world.
Several logging companies hold timber concessions inside the territory inhabited by the Mashco Piro.
One company, Canales Tahuamanu, has built more than 120 miles of roads for its logging trucks to extract timber, according to Survival International.
A Canales Tahuamanu representative in Lima did not respond to a request for comment.
The company is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, according to which it has 130,000 acres of forests in Madre de Dios to extract cedar and mahogany.
The Peruvian government reported on June 28 that local residents had reported seeing Mashco Piro on the Las Piedras river, 93 miles from the city of Puerto Maldonado, the capital of Madre de Dios.
The Mashco Piro have also been sighted across the border in Brazil, said Rosa Padilha, at the Brazilian Catholic bishops’ Indigenous Missionary Council in the state of Acre.
“They flee from loggers on the Peruvian side,” she said.
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“At this time of the year they appear on the beaches to take Amazon turtle eggs. That’s when we find their footprints on the sand. They leave behind a lot of turtle shells.”
“They are a people with no peace, restless, because they are always on the run,” Padilha said.
According to Survival, there are over 100 uncontacted tribes worldwide, although many are facing extinction as a result of habitat damage by outsiders.
Survival International warns that the Peruvian government has yet to sign into law certain indigenous domains on which these tribes rely for survival.
Contact with strangers can be fatal owing to exposure to new infections that isolated people would not have gained immunity against.
Who are the Mashco Piro tribe?
THE Mashco Piro are an indigenous group living in the Amazon rainforest, primarily in the Madre de Dios region of southeastern Peru.
They are one of the few remaining uncontacted tribes in the world, meaning they have little to no sustained interaction with the outside world.
The Mashco Piro are traditionally semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, relying on the resources of the forest for their subsistence. They hunt animals, fish, and gather fruits, nuts, and other forest products.
They speak a dialect of the Piro language, which is part of the Arawakan language family. Their cultural practices, social structures, and beliefs are deeply tied to the natural environment of the rainforest.
The Mashco Piro have a history of avoiding contact with outsiders, partly due to past traumatic experiences, such as enslavement and violence during the rubber boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
They remain one of the few groups that actively avoid contact with the outside world.
Despite their isolation, the Mashco Piro face numerous threats from illegal logging, drug trafficking, and encroachment by settlers and developers.
These activities not only threaten their territory and way of life but also expose them to diseases to which they have little immunity.
There are efforts to protect the rights and lands of uncontacted tribes like the Mashco Piro through national and international laws.
In Peru, the government has established protected areas and policies aimed at minimising unwanted contact and safeguarding their territories.
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