Peruvian Amazon Rainforest Indigenous People 'Mashco Piro'
Frequently Seen Searching for Food... Sometimes Angry at Loggers
An indigenous tribe living isolated from civilization has been spotted in the Amazon rainforest region of Peru, South America.
According to Yonhap News and CNN, on the 17th (local time), the UK human rights organization Survival International released a video recently capturing an indigenous tribe in the Amazon region. In the released footage, a group of people can be seen talking loudly by the riverside while looking around. One person is also seen holding a long tool that appears to be made of wood, searching for something.
These people are members of the 'Mashco Piro' tribe, and the Peruvian government has estimated their population spread across the Amazon to be about 750. However, little is known about their culture and traditions. Scholars analyze that the Mashco Piro tribe, having suffered harassment from explorers and loggers since the 19th century, seems to avoid contact with other communities.
The video is reported to have been taken late last month by a logging company on the riverbank in the Madre de Dios region in southeastern Peru. Rosa Fazilia from the Brazilian Catholic Indigenous Missionary Commission said, "Around this time of year, they take Amazon turtle eggs from the beach," adding, "Recently, the Mashco Piro tribe has also been seen near the Brazilian border."
According to the local indigenous organization 'FENAMAD,' the tribe has been coming out more frequently in recent weeks to find food in the rainforest. In particular, about 50 Mashco Piro tribe members were spotted near the village of another indigenous group, the 'Ine' tribe, in the past few days, and 17 were also seen in the nearby Puerto Nuevo village.
According to the Ine tribe, who speak a language similar to Mashco Piro, the Mashco Piro expressed anger that "loggers exist on their land." In fact, logging companies such as 'Canalestauamanu' and 'Kataua' hold logging concessions within the Mashco Piro indigenous territory, and some companies, with government approval, are cutting a certain amount of cedar and mahogany at a time. Notably, the Canalestauamanu company built over 200 km of roads for logging trucks in the area where these indigenous people reside.
The issue of loggers invading Amazon indigenous territories has been ongoing. Logging companies continuously lobby the Peruvian government to allow logging in natural and indigenous protected areas, which is also problematic. Survival International pointed out, "This video shows that many Mashco Piro people live very close to loggers," calling it "evidence that a humanitarian disaster is underway."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
