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| Photo Credit: Survival International |
Credit: Associated Press
Peruvian authorities say they are struggling to keep outsiders
away from a clan of previously isolated Amazon Indians who began appearing on the banks
of a jungle river popular with environmental tourists last year.
The behavior of the small group of Mashco-Piro Indians has puzzled
scientists, who say it may be related to the encroachment of loggers and by
low-flying aircraft from nearby natural gas and oil exploration in the
southeastern region of the country.
Clan members have been blamed for two bow-and-arrow attacks on people near
the riverbank in Madre de Dios state where officials say the Indians were first
seen last May.
One badly wounded a forest ranger in October. The following month, another
fatally pierced the heart of a local Matsiguenka Indian, Nicolas
"Shaco" Flores, who had long maintained a relationship with the
Mashco-Piro.
The advocacy group Survival International released photos Tuesday showing
clan members on the riverbank, describing the pictures as the "most
detailed sightings of uncontacted Indians ever recorded on camera."
The British-based group provided the photos exactly a year after releasing
aerial photos from Brazil of another tribe classified as uncontacted, one of
about 100 such groups it says exist around the world.
One of the Mashco-Piro photos was taken by a bird watcher in August,
Survival International said. The other two were shot by Spanish archaeologist
Diego Cortijo on Nov. 16, six days before Flores was killed.
Cortijo, a member of the Spanish Geographical Society, was visiting Flores
while on an expedition in search of petroglyphs and said clan members appeared
across the river from Flores' house, calling for him by name.
Flores could communicate with the Mashco-Piro because he spoke two related
dialects, said Cortijo, who added that Flores had previously provided clan
members with machetes and cooking pots.
The Mashco-Piro tribe is believed to number in the hundreds and lives in the
Manu National Park that borders Diamante, a community of more than 200 people
where Flores lived.
Although it's not known what provoked the Mashco-Piro clan to leave the
relative safety of their tribe's jungle home, Beatriz Huerta, an anthropologist
who works with Peru's agency for indigenous affairs, speculated their habitat
is becoming increasingly less isolated.
The upper Madre de Dios region where the tribe lives has been affected by
logging, she said. "They are removing wood very close."
Meanwhile, Huerta said, naturalists in the area and Manu National Park
officials told her during a recent visit that a rise in air traffic related to
natural gas and oil exploration in the region is adversely affecting native
hunting grounds, forcing increasing migration by nomadic tribes.
The clan that showed up at the river is believed to number about 60,
including some 25 adults, said Carlos Soria, a professor at Lima's Catholic
University who ran Peru's park protection agency last year.
"It seemed like they wanted to draw a bit of attention, which is a bit
strange because I know that on other occasions they had attacked people,"
Cortijo said by phone from Spain. "It seemed they didn't want us to go
near them, but I also know that the only thing that they wanted was machetes
and cooking pots."
Cortijo said the group lingered by the river a few minutes, apparently to
see if a boat would pass by so they could ask for some tools, something
authorities say they had done in the past.
"The place where they are seen is one of heavy transit" of river
cargo and tourist passage, and so the potential for more violent encounters
remains high, Soria said.
That is compounded by culture clash. The Mashco-Piro live by their own
social code, which Soria said includes the practice of kidnapping other tribes'
women and children.
He said the Mashco-Piro are one of about 15 "uncontacted" tribes
in Peru that together are estimated to number between 12,000 and 15,000 people
living in jungles east of the Andes.
"The situation is incredibly delicate," said Huerta, the
government anthropologist.
"It's very clear that they don't want people there," she said of
the area where the clan has been loitering, noting that it had ransacked a
jungle ranger's post that authorities later removed.
One of the clan's likely fears is being decimated by disease borne by
outsiders, as has occurred with other uncontacted peoples, Huerta said.
But its also a mystery why they have appeared in an area so heavily
trafficked, she added.
After the first sightings, and after tourists left clothing for the
Mashco-Piro, state authorities issued a directive in August barring all boats
from going ashore in the area. But enforcing it has been difficult as there are
few trained and willing local officials.
Authorities say they aren't sure why
Flores was killed. It could be that the Mashco-Piro were angry because he
hadn't provided them with more machetes and cooking pots. Or perhaps it was
because they considered the farming plot where he was killed too close to what
they considered their territory.
Cortijo, the Spanish archaeologist, said
the loss of Flores makes reaching any understanding with the Mashco-Piro very
complicated.
"The problem is that 'Shaco' was the
only person who could talk to them," he said. "Now that he's dead
it's impossible to make contact."
