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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny glade deep in the Peruvian jungle when he noticed footsteps coming closer through the dense jungle.

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

“A single individual positioned, directing using an projectile,” he states. “And somehow he noticed of my presence and I began to escape.”

He ended up face to face the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—residing in the small settlement of Nueva Oceania—served as virtually a local to these itinerant people, who reject contact with foreigners.

An updated document by a human rights organization indicates remain at least 196 of what it calls “remote communities” remaining globally. This tribe is thought to be the biggest. The report claims 50% of these tribes may be eliminated within ten years if governments neglect to implement additional measures to safeguard them.

The report asserts the greatest dangers stem from timber harvesting, extraction or drilling for petroleum. Uncontacted groups are extremely at risk to common sickness—therefore, the report notes a threat is presented by interaction with evangelical missionaries and digital content creators looking for attention.

Recently, members of the tribe have been venturing to Nueva Oceania more and more, as reported by inhabitants.

This settlement is a fishermen's community of seven or eight families, sitting high on the shores of the local river in the heart of the of Peru jungle, a ten-hour journey from the most accessible village by canoe.

The area is not classified as a protected area for remote communities, and deforestation operations work here.

Tomas says that, at times, the noise of logging machinery can be heard around the clock, and the community are witnessing their woodland disturbed and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, people say they are conflicted. They dread the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also possess strong regard for their “relatives” who live in the forest and desire to protect them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we can't change their culture. That's why we maintain our separation,” states Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the damage to the tribe's survival, the threat of aggression and the chance that timber workers might subject the Mashco Piro to diseases they have no immunity to.

During a visit in the community, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. Letitia, a woman with a two-year-old daughter, was in the jungle collecting food when she heard them.

“There were calls, cries from others, many of them. Like there were a whole group shouting,” she informed us.

This marked the first instance she had encountered the tribe and she fled. Subsequently, her mind was continually racing from anxiety.

“Because exist timber workers and firms clearing the forest they are escaping, possibly due to terror and they come near us,” she stated. “We don't know how they will behave towards us. That is the thing that scares me.”

Two years ago, two loggers were assaulted by the Mashco Piro while angling. One was wounded by an arrow to the gut. He lived, but the other man was discovered dead after several days with several injuries in his body.

The Peruvian government maintains a policy of no engagement with secluded communities, rendering it illegal to initiate interactions with them.

The strategy began in Brazil subsequent to prolonged of lobbying by community representatives, who observed that early contact with remote tribes could lead to entire groups being eliminated by illness, hardship and starvation.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in the country came into contact with the broader society, a significant portion of their community died within a matter of years. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua community faced the same fate.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are highly vulnerable—epidemiologically, any interaction may transmit diseases, and even the basic infections may wipe them out,” states a representative from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any contact or intrusion can be highly damaging to their way of life and survival as a group.”

For those living nearby of {