More than 50 Mashko Piro members showed up nearby. Deep Jungle Village According to indigenous rights groups, 17 people were spotted in the village of Monte Salvado in southeastern Peru, and another 17 were seen near the neighbouring village of Puerto Nuevo. Survival Internationaland released the image.
“This is irrefutable evidence that many Mashco-Piro people live in an area that the government has not only failed to protect but has actually sold to logging companies,” said Alfredo Vargas Pio, president of a local indigenous organization. Fenamadsaid in a news release.
He expressed concern that loggers would bring new diseases to the area and devastate Mashko Piro. There is the potential for violent clashes between loggers and indigenous communities.
Fenamad Said Reuters reports that in recent weeks, the tribe has been seen emerging more frequently in search of food and fleeing loggers.
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Indigenous advocacy groups, including the NGO Survival International, are calling on authorities to revoke the certification of one of the logging companies, Canales Tawamanu (also known as Katawa), which has built more than 120 miles of roads in the area and operates within Mashco Piro territory.
Katawa has had timber concessions for the area dating back to 2002, which now covers about 193 square miles and has a history of clashes with indigenous groups. The Washington Post reported in May..
Catawa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has previously said that no employees have reported any sightings of Mashco Piro and that it complies with all Peruvian laws.
Last year, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples called on Katawa to halt logging and address allegations of “possible forced contact” with the Mashko-Piro people.
The government refused to intervene and in December Peru’s Conservative-Led Congress The legalization of land was allowed. The government did not respond to requests for comment.
In Peru, 20 tribes live in self-isolation. Such tribes live in BrazilThe right to segregation has long been rejected Stipulated in the ConstitutionBut in recent years it has been plagued by illegal mining, land grabbing and deforestation.
The Peruvian government previously estimated the Mashco Piro population at around 750, stretching from the central Peruvian Amazon to Brazil.
“These startling images show that huge numbers of uncontacted Mashko Piro people are living just a few miles from where the loggers are,” said Caroline Pearce, director of Survival International. “This is the beginning of a humanitarian disaster.”
