At the least two loggers have been killed, one wounded, and two extra reported lacking, in an encounter with uncontacted Mashco Piro individuals within the Peruvian Amazon – the identical Indigenous tribe whose photographs went viral in July.
The tragedy has prompted offended criticism of the federal government by regional Indigenous group FENAMAD, which in an announcement denounced the authorities for his or her persistent failure each to abide by Peruvian and worldwide regulation and in addition to formally acknowledge and defend your complete Mashco Piro territory. Additionally they known as for all outsiders resembling logging staff within the space to be evacuated.
The assault occurred close to the Pariamanu river in Madre de Dios province on 29 August, however the information has solely now been confirmed. It passed off in part of the Mashco Piro’s ancestral territory that has been bought off by the federal government as a logging concession. It follows the same assault one month in the past in the identical space, wherein a minimum of one logger was wounded – no official investigation of that incident has taken place, regardless of Indigenous requests.
A part of the Mashco Piro territory has been legally acknowledged and guarded, however a big half is unprotected, and far of it has been bought off for logging. Each the situation the place the latest photographs of the Mashco Piro had been taken, and the location of the most recent assaults, are in that area.
One logging firm, Canales Tahuamanu, that operates inside Mashco Piro territory has simply had its FSC certification suspended after international media protection of the latest photographs of the uncontacted individuals, and after 14,000 individuals wrote to the FSC urging it to behave.
Eusebio Ríos, Vice-President of FENAMAD, mentioned as we speak: “There are individuals wounded, useless, lacking – we do not know what’s taking place or what has occurred. We’ve requested the authorities to offer help with a helicopter. And this isn’t the primary time, that’s our concern. FENAMAD has been demanding for a very long time that this territory be correctly protected for uncontacted peoples.”
Survival Worldwide’s Director Caroline Pearce mentioned as we speak: “This can be a tragedy that was completely avoidable. The Peruvian authorities have identified for years that this space that they selected to dump for logging was really the Mashco Piro’s territory. By facilitating the logging and destruction of this rainforest they’re not solely endangering the very survival of the Mashco Piro individuals, who’re extremely weak to epidemics of illness introduced in by outsiders, however they’ve knowingly put the lives of the logging staff at risk.
“The federal government should act now: it should cancel the logging concessions and acknowledge and defend the entire Mashco Piro territory. If it doesn’t, additional tragedies are inevitable.”
