- Title: Isolated Amazonian tribe kills local man, wounds two in Peru-govt
- Date: 9th November 2016
- Summary: LIMA, PERU (NOVEMBER 9, 2016) (REUTERS) VICE-MINISTER OF CULTURE, ALFREDO LUNA, IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VICE-MINISTER OF CULTURE, ALFREDO LUNA, SAYING: "I must affirm that both the Nahua and Mascho people have, in their time, lived as isolated groups. The Nahuas are no longer (isolated), the Maschos are. As such, the cultural patrimony of the Nahuas is different to that of a nomadic group." (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VICE-MINISTER OF CULTURE, ALFREDO LUNA, SAYING: "What happened in this meeting is that our Nahua brothers, having seen human footprints… they evidently know of the existence of the Mascho Piro and are always curious to get close to them. They followed them, the Mascho Piro, which typically respond to any sensation that they are being attacked, and evidently shot their arrows and have injured these people, causing one death."
- Embargoed: 24th November 2016 19:52
- Keywords: Peru Amazon tribe death indigenous
- Location: ACAYALI AND LIMA, PERU
- City: ACAYALI AND LIMA, PERU
- Country: Peru
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA00257Q8HFN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: An isolated Amazonian tribe in Peru killed a local man and wounded two others last week in the latest clash involving Mascho Piro Indians as they emerge more frequently from their jungle enclaves, the government said Wednesday (November 9).
The nomadic Mascho Piro turned their bows and arrows on members of the settled Nahua tribe who had followed their footprints into the wilderness after spotting them in their territory in the region of Ucayali, said Deputy Culture Minister Alfredo Luna.
"I must affirm that both the Nahua and Mascho people have, in their time, lived as isolated groups. The Nahuas are no longer (isolated), the Maschos are. As such, the cultural patrimony of the Nahuas is different to that of a nomadic group," said Luna.
"What happened in this meeting is that our Nahua brothers, having seen human footprints… they evidently know of the existence of the Mascho Piro and are always curious to get close to them. They followed them, the Mascho Piro, which typically respond to any sensation that they are being attacked, and evidently shot their arrows and have injured these people, causing one death," he added.
Luna said last week's deadly clash was the first inside of a protected reserve set up for the Nahua, Indians who had lived in isolation up until the 1980s when their lands were opened up for gas exploration.
The Mascho Piro have largely shunned contact with outsiders for at least 100 years as they live off of hunting and foraging in a vast expanse of rainforest in Peru and Brazil.
Believed to be the descendants of farmers who fled abuse by whites during the Amazonian rubber boom in the 1800s, the Mascho Piro have increasingly ventured outside of their traditional safe-havens in recent years.
Peru broke with its long-standing policy of avoiding contact with isolated tribes last year in order to establish communication with a group of Mascho Piro that had repeatedly appeared at the edge of settled indigenous towns in recent years, killing two locals with their arrows.
Illegal logging, drug trafficking and wildcat gold mining may be forcing the Mascho Piro from some lands, while climate change may be disrupting where they traditionally find food and water, Luna said.
The Mascho Piro may also be drawn to seek out machetes, cooking pots and other tools that they have seized in raids on settlements in the jungle.
Luna said studies have suggested that may be between 1,000 to 4,000 members of the Mascho Piro in the Amazon.
The Mascho Piro are one of about a dozen isolated tribes in Peru whose immune systems carry little resistance to common illnesses - making contact with outsiders potentially deadly for them. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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