LIMA - An isolated Peruvian village in the Amazon rainforest that came under attack by bow-and-arrow wielding indigenous people is being evacuated by boat, authorities said Wednesday.
Last week some 200 people from the Mashco-Piro ethnic group attacked Monte Salvado, a small village near Peru's border with Brazil.
The Mashco-Piro attacked on two occasions, killing villagers' pets and livestock and carting off food, machetes, pots, pans and rope, according to the government.
Since the attacks, 39 villagers including 16 children have been sheltering inside a lookout post, prompting authorities to evacuate Monte Salvado and a nearby village.
"The evacuation of the entire population of the communities of Monte Salvado and Puerto Nuevo to the city of Puerto Maldonado is necessary to protect lives and the security of both the residents and this isolated indigenous group," the culture ministry said.
The government said the interior and defense ministries had coordinated an air evacuation, but heavy rains across the Peruvian Amazon had made it impossible to fly into the area.
The authorities instead dispatched boats to travel by river to the two villages and evacuate them, a round-trip expected to take until Saturday.
The culture ministry said the Mashco-Piro were still lingering around the outskirts of Monte Salvado.
Indigenous peoples' federation FENAMAD said the invasion was likely an act of desperation caused by the encroachment of illegal loggers and drug traffickers on native people's lands.
The organization called on the government to protect the Mashco-Piro and other isolated indigenous peoples living in the Brazil-Peru border region.
"This situation will repeat itself unless urgent measures are taken," said FENAMAD director Cesar Augusto Jojaje in a post on Facebook.
He also urged the government to ban tourist trips to visit the Mashco-Piro, saying isolated indigenous groups risked contracting diseases from outside visitors.
The Mashco-Piro are emerging from the forest with greater frequency, said vice minister for culture Patricia Balbuena.
She said they had been sighted four times this year, double the previous rate, and warned that villages in the area were at heightened risk of violent encounters.
AFP
