Isolated Mashco-Piro Indians appear in Peru

[Zorro]

Members of an Indian tribe that has long lived in voluntary isolation in Peru's southeastern Amazon attempted to make contact with outsiders for a second time since 2011, leading to a tense standoff at a river hamlet.

Authorities are unsure what provoked the three-day encounter but say the Mashco-Piro may be upset by illegal logging in their territory as well as drug smugglers who pass through. Oil and gas exploration also affects the region.

The more than 100 members of Mashco-Piro clan appeared across the Las Piedras river from the remote community of Monte Salvado in the Tambopata region of Madre de Dios state from June 24-26, said Klaus Quicque, president of the regional FENAMAD indigenous federation.

They asked for bananas, rope and machetes from the local Yine people but were dissuaded from crossing the river by FENAMAD rangers posted at the settlement, said Quicque, who directed them to a banana patch on their side of the river.

http://news.yahoo.com/isolated-mashco-piro-indians-appear-peru-034457368.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Why wouldn't these human beings be concerned?

From the article:

Quicque said the Mashco-Piro were victimized by "genocide" in the mid-1980s from the incursion of loggers, and subsequently engaged in battles with mahogany-seekers.

Members of the group reappeared in May 2011 on the banks of a different river after more than two decades in voluntary isolation.

After those sightings, and after tourists left clothing for the Mashco-Piro, authorities barred all boats from going ashore in the area.

Mashco-Piro were blamed later in 2011 for the wounding of one forest ranger and the killing of a Matsiguenka Indian who had long maintained a relationship with them and provided them with machetes and cooking pots.

Let them have their last days in peace. The sociopathic greedy scum of the earth will steal their land, and kill them to get it if they don't kill themselves first. What a shame. It's such an old, evil story. As long as a square foot remains free, without some filthy clown's name on it, and the deed in the safe, people will continue to be murdered, just for the hell of it. Oh, wait, first, they force them to work their lives away, clearing the land, removing the stones, maybe digging for coal, or planting palm trees for commercial palm oil, or building a factory, working for nothing, with no safety regulations, no minimum wage, of course, no pension, of course, THEN they murder them. Maybe they'll take the time to rape their children before it's all said and done, and maybe sell them as slaves to a fellow asshole.

[Bacchus4.0]

2. you should take it up with Humala

maybe send him a link to an angry blog post or send him a picture of Chavez with a bird on his head to remind him of humanity.