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Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a modest glade far in the Peruvian jungle when he detected sounds drawing near through the lush forest.

He became aware he was encircled, and froze.

“One person positioned, directing using an arrow,” he remembers. “Unexpectedly he detected I was here and I began to flee.”

He found himself confronting the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—residing in the small village of Nueva Oceania—had been practically a neighbor to these nomadic tribe, who avoid contact with outsiders.

A recent document issued by a human rights group states remain at least 196 termed “uncontacted groups” in existence worldwide. This tribe is believed to be the biggest. It states 50% of these tribes may be decimated within ten years if governments don't do further measures to safeguard them.

The report asserts the biggest threats come from deforestation, digging or operations for crude. Uncontacted groups are highly at risk to basic sickness—as such, the study says a threat is caused by contact with religious missionaries and digital content creators looking for engagement.

Lately, the Mashco Piro have been appearing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, as reported by inhabitants.

Nueva Oceania is a fishermen's community of seven or eight households, sitting elevated on the shores of the local river in the heart of the Peruvian jungle, a ten-hour journey from the closest town by watercraft.

The territory is not classified as a preserved reserve for remote communities, and deforestation operations function here.

According to Tomas that, at times, the sound of industrial tools can be noticed continuously, and the community are witnessing their forest disrupted and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, inhabitants report they are conflicted. They are afraid of the projectiles but they hold strong respect for their “relatives” dwelling in the forest and desire to safeguard them.

“Allow them to live as they live, we must not modify their culture. This is why we preserve our separation,” says Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the threat of conflict and the likelihood that deforestation crews might introduce the community to sicknesses they have no resistance to.

During a visit in the community, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a resident with a two-year-old daughter, was in the forest collecting produce when she noticed them.

“There were cries, shouts from individuals, numerous of them. Like there was a large gathering shouting,” she informed us.

That was the first time she had come across the group and she fled. After sixty minutes, her thoughts was still racing from anxiety.

“Because exist loggers and operations cutting down the woodland they're running away, maybe because of dread and they end up in proximity to us,” she said. “We are uncertain what their response may be with us. That's what frightens me.”

Recently, two individuals were assaulted by the group while catching fish. A single person was struck by an projectile to the abdomen. He recovered, but the other man was discovered deceased subsequently with nine arrow wounds in his body.

The Peruvian government maintains a approach of avoiding interaction with remote tribes, rendering it prohibited to commence encounters with them.

The strategy originated in the neighboring country following many years of campaigning by indigenous rights groups, who observed that early contact with secluded communities resulted to entire communities being decimated by disease, destitution and malnutrition.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau people in Peru came into contact with the world outside, half of their population perished within a matter of years. A decade later, the Muruhanua tribe faced the similar destiny.

“Remote tribes are highly vulnerable—from a disease perspective, any contact could introduce diseases, and even the basic infections may wipe them out,” explains an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “In cultural terms, any contact or interference could be extremely detrimental to their life and health as a society.”

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