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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny open space deep in the Peruvian jungle when he detected footsteps drawing near through the thick woodland.

It dawned on him that he stood encircled, and halted.

“A single individual stood, directing with an projectile,” he states. “Somehow he became aware of my presence and I commenced to flee.”

He found himself face to face the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—residing in the tiny community of Nueva Oceania—had been virtually a local to these itinerant individuals, who avoid contact with foreigners.

An updated document by a human rights group indicates exist at least 196 termed “remote communities” remaining worldwide. The group is believed to be the largest. The report claims half of these communities could be eliminated within ten years if governments don't do further to protect them.

It argues the biggest threats are from logging, mining or drilling for crude. Remote communities are exceptionally vulnerable to ordinary disease—therefore, the report notes a risk is caused by interaction with proselytizers and social media influencers seeking engagement.

Lately, Mashco Piro people have been coming to Nueva Oceania more and more, as reported by inhabitants.

Nueva Oceania is a fishermen's community of several families, perched elevated on the banks of the local river in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, 10 hours from the closest village by canoe.

The territory is not classified as a protected area for remote communities, and logging companies operate here.

Tomas reports that, sometimes, the sound of heavy equipment can be detected around the clock, and the Mashco Piro people are seeing their jungle disrupted and destroyed.

Within the village, residents state they are conflicted. They are afraid of the Mashco Piro's arrows but they hold strong admiration for their “kin” dwelling in the forest and desire to protect them.

“Let them live in their own way, we must not alter their traditions. That's why we preserve our distance,” says Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the damage to the tribe's survival, the threat of violence and the likelihood that loggers might expose the tribe to illnesses they have no defense to.

During a visit in the settlement, the group made their presence felt again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a young mother with a two-year-old child, was in the woodland picking food when she noticed them.

“We detected cries, shouts from others, numerous of them. As if there were a crowd yelling,” she informed us.

That was the first instance she had met the tribe and she ran. An hour later, her head was continually racing from fear.

“As exist timber workers and operations clearing the woodland they are escaping, maybe because of dread and they arrive near us,” she explained. “We don't know how they will behave with us. This is what scares me.”

In 2022, two loggers were attacked by the group while catching fish. A single person was struck by an arrow to the abdomen. He recovered, but the other person was discovered lifeless after several days with multiple arrow wounds in his body.

The Peruvian government has a policy of no engagement with secluded communities, rendering it forbidden to commence contact with them.

This approach originated in Brazil after decades of advocacy by indigenous rights groups, who observed that early interaction with isolated people lead to entire groups being wiped out by sickness, destitution and hunger.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in Peru made initial contact with the outside world, half of their people succumbed within a matter of years. A decade later, the Muruhanua people suffered the same fate.

“Secluded communities are extremely susceptible—in terms of health, any interaction may transmit illnesses, and including the basic infections might wipe them out,” says an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any interaction or interference could be very harmful to their life and well-being as a society.”

For those living nearby of {