Over 100 members of a voluntarily isolated tribe emerged from the jungles of Peru in a rare appearance on the Las Piedras River across from the a Yine Indian community in late June. Belonging to the Mascho-Piro Indians, members of the “uncontacted” tribe are occasionally seen on riverbanks during the dry season, but appearances in such numbers and so close to a local community was unprecedented.
In the past the group has had sporadic contact with Yine Indian community members, but not to this extent. Their appearance was videotaped by members of Peru’s Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP) and the Federation of Native Communities of the Madre de Dios River and Tributaries (FENAMAD). Experts hypothesize that destruction of the rainforest, including oil and gas blocks, may be pushing the people to make contact more frequently.
“The construction of a road that invades their ancestral lands, the expansion of the work of Lot 88 and the illegal logging, have made the existence of these people are at risk of being exterminated,” reads a press release by AIDESEP. Members of the same group had made a similar appearance in 2001.
In order to diffuse a potentially explosive situation, FENAMAD rangers did not allow the tribe to cross the river. Instead, the tribe were were given bananas from a Yine agricultural plot, which is recorded in the video. Reportedly, the tribe stayed nearby for three days before returning back into the forest.
According to indigenous rights groups, the video provides another important piece of evidence to prove these tribes exist and that their territory should be safeguarded.
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