Latino Lookout

The uncontacted Indians of the Envira, who have never before had any contact with the outside world, photographed during an overflight in May 2008 ⓒGleison Miranda, FUNAI

Some of the world’s last uncontacted Indians have been fleeing from Peru to Brazil in order to escape illegal logging, says a report published earlier this week by Survival International.

The report highlights evidence found by employees of FUNAI, Brazil’s Indian Affairs Department since 2004. There have been numerous sightings of the Indians. Their arrows have been found and wooden boards were seen floating past the FUNAI post on the Envira River, coming downstream from Peru, where the Indians are known to live.

Jose Carlos Meirelles, head of the FUNAI team says in the report: “(There has been a) forced migration of autonomous groups in Peru, caused by mahogany exploration in the headwaters of the Jurua, Purus and Envira (rivers in Peru).

“The collection of arrows (belonging to the Indians) on my table is piling up. The situation will only be resolved when the Indians are left alone on the other side of the border.”

Tribal peoples are constantly under the threat of cattle ranchers, disease, missionaries and roads which cut tribal lands in half. Often tribal people are wiped out because they are thought to be standing in the way of ‘progress’. Many people believe that they are now laws in place to protect tribal peoples but they are still fighting for survival. One example is the Akuntsu tribe in Brazil.

Agents of FUNAI contacted them in 1995, and found that the cattle ranchers who had taken over the Indians’ land had massacred almost all the tribe, and bulldozed their houses to try to cover up the massacre. Only six Akuntsu survive.

It is sad to learn about previously uncontacted tribes who have survived for so long without modern technology being forced from their lands because of the greed which spurs illegal logging. Not only does it ruin the Amazon rainforest, helping to increase global warming, but it uproots tribal peoples, often leading to their death.

To see a photo click here.