An avoidable tragedy: Loggers killed by uncontacted Mashco Piro in Peru

At least two loggers have been killed, one wounded, and two more reported missing, in an encounter with uncontacted Mashco Piro people in the Peruvian Amazon – the same Indigenous tribe whose images went viral in July.

The tragedy has prompted angry criticism of the government by regional Indigenous organization FENAMAD, which in a statement denounced the authorities for their persistent failure both to abide by Peruvian and international law and also to formally recognize and protect the entire Mashco Piro territory. They also called for all outsiders such as logging workers in the area to be evacuated.

The attack happened near the Pariamanu river in Madre de Dios province on 29 August, but the news has only now been confirmed. It took place in a part of the Mashco Piro’s ancestral territory that has been sold off by the government as a logging concession. It follows a similar attack one month ago in the same area, in which at least one logger was wounded – no official investigation of that incident has taken place, despite Indigenous requests.

Part of the Mashco Piro territory has been legally recognized and protected, but a significant part is unprotected, and much of it has been sold off for logging. Both the location where the recent images of the Mashco Piro were taken, and the site of the latest attacks, are in that region.

One logging company, Canales Tahuamanu, that operates inside Mashco Piro territory has just had its FSC certification suspended after global media coverage of the recent images of the uncontacted people, and after 14,000 people wrote to the FSC urging it to act.

Eusebio Ríos, Vice-President of FENAMAD, said today: “There are people wounded, dead, missing – we don't know what’s happening or what has happened. We’ve asked the authorities to provide assistance with a helicopter. And this isn’t the first time, that’s our concern. FENAMAD has been demanding for a long time that this territory be properly protected for uncontacted peoples.”

Survival International’s Director Caroline Pearce said today: “This is a tragedy that was entirely avoidable. The Peruvian authorities have known for years that this area that they chose to sell off for logging was actually the Mashco Piro’s territory. By facilitating the logging and destruction of this rainforest they’re not only endangering the very survival of the Mashco Piro people, who are incredibly vulnerable to epidemics of disease brought in by outsiders, but they’ve knowingly put the lives of the logging workers in danger.

“The government must act now: it must cancel the logging concessions and recognize and protect the whole Mashco Piro territory. If it doesn’t, further tragedies are inevitable.”