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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small glade within in the Peruvian jungle when he heard footsteps coming closer through the thick forest.

It dawned on him he was hemmed in, and halted.

“A single individual positioned, directing using an projectile,” he recalls. “And somehow he became aware of my presence and I started to flee.”

He found himself face to face the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—dwelling in the modest settlement of Nueva Oceania—was practically a neighbor to these nomadic people, who shun engagement with foreigners.

An updated report issued by a advocacy group states exist at least 196 termed “uncontacted groups” in existence globally. The group is believed to be the biggest. It says a significant portion of these tribes could be eliminated over the coming ten years unless authorities fail to take additional actions to defend them.

It argues the most significant threats are from timber harvesting, extraction or operations for petroleum. Uncontacted groups are exceptionally at risk to common illness—consequently, the report notes a threat is presented by interaction with proselytizers and online personalities looking for attention.

Recently, the Mashco Piro have been coming to Nueva Oceania more and more, according to locals.

The village is a fishing hamlet of seven or eight households, located high on the shores of the Tauhamanu waterway in the heart of the Peruvian jungle, half a day from the most accessible town by canoe.

The territory is not designated as a preserved reserve for remote communities, and timber firms work here.

Tomas says that, at times, the sound of industrial tools can be detected around the clock, and the tribe members are witnessing their forest disturbed and ruined.

Within the village, inhabitants say they are torn. They are afraid of the projectiles but they hold profound regard for their “relatives” residing in the jungle and desire to defend them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we are unable to modify their way of life. That's why we preserve our separation,” says Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are worried about the destruction to the tribe's survival, the risk of aggression and the chance that deforestation crews might subject the community to illnesses they have no resistance to.

While we were in the village, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a young mother with a toddler girl, was in the jungle picking fruit when she noticed them.

“There were cries, sounds from people, numerous of them. As if it was a whole group calling out,” she told us.

That was the first instance she had come across the group and she escaped. Subsequently, her head was still racing from terror.

“As there are deforestation crews and firms clearing the jungle they are fleeing, possibly because of dread and they come close to us,” she said. “We don't know what their response may be with us. That is the thing that scares me.”

Recently, two individuals were assaulted by the group while catching fish. One was hit by an projectile to the abdomen. He survived, but the other man was found dead days later with nine injuries in his physique.

The Peruvian government has a policy of non-contact with remote tribes, rendering it prohibited to initiate encounters with them.

The policy began in the neighboring country after decades of lobbying by tribal advocacy organizations, who noted that initial exposure with isolated people resulted to entire communities being decimated by sickness, destitution and starvation.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau community in the country made initial contact with the outside world, a significant portion of their population perished within a matter of years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua tribe faced the same fate.

“Remote tribes are very at risk—from a disease perspective, any interaction could spread sicknesses, and even the simplest ones may decimate them,” says an advocate from a local advocacy organization. “From a societal perspective, any contact or interference could be very harmful to their existence and survival as a community.”

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