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Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a small clearing deep in the Peruvian jungle when he noticed movements approaching through the thick jungle.

It dawned on him he was hemmed in, and stood still.

“One person was standing, pointing with an projectile,” he recalls. “Unexpectedly he noticed that I was present and I began to escape.”

He had come encountering the Mashco Piro tribe. For a long time, Tomas—residing in the small village of Nueva Oceania—was practically a neighbor to these itinerant individuals, who avoid contact with strangers.

A recent document by a rights organisation claims there are at least 196 of what it calls “remote communities” in existence in the world. The Mashco Piro is believed to be the biggest. It states 50% of these communities may be eliminated over the coming ten years should administrations don't do further to protect them.

The report asserts the most significant risks come from timber harvesting, digging or operations for crude. Remote communities are exceptionally susceptible to ordinary disease—consequently, it states a danger is presented by exposure with proselytizers and social media influencers seeking attention.

Lately, members of the tribe have been coming to Nueva Oceania more and more, based on accounts from locals.

This settlement is a fishing hamlet of several households, sitting atop on the edges of the Tauhamanu River in the center of the of Peru Amazon, half a day from the nearest town by watercraft.

The territory is not designated as a protected reserve for isolated tribes, and logging companies operate here.

Tomas says that, on occasion, the sound of industrial tools can be detected day and night, and the tribe members are observing their woodland disrupted and ruined.

Within the village, people report they are conflicted. They dread the tribal weapons but they also have deep regard for their “kin” who live in the forest and desire to protect them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we are unable to change their traditions. For this reason we keep our space,” states Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are worried about the destruction to the community's way of life, the risk of aggression and the likelihood that deforestation crews might subject the community to sicknesses they have no resistance to.

During a visit in the community, the tribe appeared again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a resident with a young daughter, was in the jungle picking produce when she noticed them.

“We heard shouting, shouts from people, a large number of them. Like there was a crowd yelling,” she informed us.

This marked the first time she had encountered the group and she escaped. After sixty minutes, her thoughts was still throbbing from anxiety.

“Because there are timber workers and firms clearing the forest they are fleeing, perhaps due to terror and they end up in proximity to us,” she explained. “We are uncertain how they might react to us. That's what scares me.”

In 2022, a pair of timber workers were attacked by the Mashco Piro while angling. A single person was wounded by an arrow to the gut. He recovered, but the second individual was located dead after several days with several injuries in his physique.

Authorities in Peru follows a approach of non-contact with remote tribes, making it forbidden to initiate interactions with them.

This approach was first adopted in the neighboring country after decades of campaigning by indigenous rights groups, who observed that initial contact with secluded communities lead to whole populations being decimated by disease, destitution and malnutrition.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau people in Peru came into contact with the world outside, 50% of their population perished within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua people suffered the similar destiny.

“Secluded communities are extremely susceptible—in terms of health, any contact may transmit diseases, and including the most common illnesses may wipe them out,” explains Issrail Aquisse from a tribal support group. “From a societal perspective, any interaction or interference could be very harmful to their life and health as a community.”

For those living nearby of {