The Mashco Piro, an Indigenous tribe in the Peruvian Amazon, have had almost no contact with the outside world and we should leave them alone. Unfortunately, logging companies are now operating just miles from their home. The Mashco Piro have been frequently emerging from the rainforest in recent months as the loggers increase in numbers and proximity. Last month, the Mascho Piro reportedly attacked loggers with bows and arrows. A few days ago, the Maschi Piro reportedly killed two of the intruders threatening their ecosystem and way of life.
FENAMAD, an organization representing several dozen Indigenous communities in the region, claims they have warned the government that the situation will only intensify unless the ancestral land is protected.
From the AP:
The attack took place a day before the Forest Stewardship Council suspended the sustainability certification of a logging company for eight months which rights groups and activists have accused of encroaching on the Indigenous group's land.
"It's absurd that certifiers like the FSC keep the certification of companies that clearly and openly violate basic human rights and Indigenous rights," said Julia Urrunaga, director of the Peru program at the Environmental Investigation Agency. "How terrible that people have to keep dying and that it has to be an international scandal for action to be taken."
Previously:
• Rare photos of uncontacted tribe now threatened by logging companies
