Peruvian loggers are reportedly encroaching on the Mascho Piro tribe’s territory
Two people are said to have been killed and a further two injured after a confrontation with an ‘uncontacted’ tribe.
The Mashco Piro tribe, who live in Peru’s Manú National Park, is suspected to be the largest uncontacted tribe on the planet.
The tribe is said to be made up of 750 members as of this year, with every member having zero contact with anyone outside of the massive group.
Back in July, an organization that represents 39 Indigenous communities in the Cusco and Madre de Dios regions, the Federación Nativa del Río Madre de Dios y Afluentes (FENAMAD), revealed a worrying incident had taken place.
The tribe has a LOT of members. (Survival International)
It was reported the tribe launched an attack on loggers near their territory, in which one logger was injured.
Since then, tensions have risen further to the point where the tribe has fatally shot two logging workers.
Daniel Pena, a spokesperson of FENAMAD, told Reuters the attack took place on Thursday (29 August) in the Madre de Dios region.
Workers had reportedly been opening a trail in the forest when the Mashco Piro tribe launched their attack.
At least two workers have been killed, while a further two are apparently injured and missing.
The attack took place just one day before the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) suspended the certification for a logging company to work in close proximately to the tribe for a period of eight months, the Guardian reports.
Vice-president of FENAMAD, Eusebio Ríos, said: “There are people wounded, dead, missing – we don’t know what’s happening or what has happened.
“FENAMAD has been demanding for a long time that this territory be properly protected for uncontacted peoples.”
Meanwhile Caroline Pearce, executive director of Survival International, a human rights organization campaigning for Indigenous people, said in a statement: “This is a tragedy that was entirely avoidable. The Peruvian authorities have known for years that this area that they chose to sell off for logging was actually the Mashco Piro’s territory.
The group were spotted dangerously close to loggers in July. (Survival International)
“By facilitating the logging and destruction of this rainforest they’re not only endangering the very survival of the Mashco Piro people, who are incredibly vulnerable to epidemics of disease brought in by outsiders, but they’ve knowingly put the lives of the logging workers in danger.”
Survival International previously called for ‘all the logging licenses in the Mashco Piro territory to be revoked’ after the incident in July in which a logger was injured.
An investigation into last week’s incident is currently ongoing, with the Peruvian government likely to face increasing pressure to do more in regards to the current situation.