People have gone to great lengths to save the whales, trees and oceans. Hopefully the same effort will be made to save an “uncontacted,” isolated native tribe in the Amazon jungles of Brazil. The Panoan Indians were first photographed from the air in 2008 and to this day, have never been contacted by the outside world. Their first brush with civilization, however, has not been civil. Peruvian drug traffickers invaded the area after overthrowing a Brazilian guard post set up to protect the forest. Now the tribe is missing and concern for their safety is mounting.
As told by National Geographic:
Five Brazilian Indian rights officials are holding out in a remote jungle outpost in a desperate attempt to protect uncontacted indigenous groups from heavily-armed drug traffickers who have moved into the area from Peru in the past two weeks, according to dispatches from the scene. Officials fear the traffickers may have unleashed a manhunt to track down and exterminate the highly vulnerable tribal populations in order to clear the forests for their coca-growing operations.
The drama began last month, when Asháninka Indians three hours upstream from the base warned by two-way radio that a heavily armed band of intruders had crossed the border from Peru into Brazil. Nearly two weeks later, 40 armed men appeared in the dense forests around the control post, which sits on the banks of the Xinane River, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) inside Brazil’s border in the western Amazonian state of Acre.
Outmanned and outgunned, the FUNAI personnel fled the outpost, which the gang overran on July 23. It took a week for Brazilian Federal Police and Army troops to respond to the incursion, dropping in by helicopter to regain control of the Xinane base. But the agents withdrew after a sweep of the nearby forest turned up a lone suspect. Unsatisfied with the failure of the police and military to remain in the area, the FUNAI team reoccupied the outpost this past Friday, August 5, fearing a massacre of the Indians they are duty-bound to protect.
The Xinane outpost is in the same region where Meirelles has twice taken journalists by aircraft on overflights to film and photograph a settlement of uncontacted Indians deep in the forest. Images of naked Indians in red body paint electrified much of the world when broadcast by the BBC earlier this year. In the BBC’s report, Meirelles called the Indians in the clearing below “the last free people on Earth.”
According to Survival International, which advocates for tribal peoples, more than 100 uncontacted tribes remain worldwide and about half live in the remote reaches of the Amazonian rainforest in Peru or Brazil.
Why did it take so long for the Brazilian Police and Army to get involved? Are they scared of the drug gangs like Mexican cops? If the people sent to protect the tribe knew ruthless traffickers were invading, why weren’t they better armed? The United States meddles in the affairs of countries who don’t want us there, why can’t we send some American muscle to assist an endangered people who really need it? Then again, that’s a question to be asked of many a worldwide crisis.
The missing Amazon tribe is truly the most innocent of victims because they don’t know anything about our wicked “civilization.” To have it forced upon them in this manner is cold-blooded and barbaric, word to Christopher Columbus. One can only hope the drug traffickers have some shred of decency and at worst, chase the natives away without harming them.
It remains to be seen if these gangsters have a heart of gold.
Word
This is a great article. Real as f****
It’s wild that there are tribes of ppl out there who don’t know shit about smartphones, social networks, taxes & “Jersey Shore.” I envy them.
“The missing Amazon tribe is truly the most innocent of victims because they don’t know anything about our wicked “civilization.” To have it forced upon them in this manner is cold-blooded and barbaric, word to Christopher Columbus. ”
So, having knowledge of something “wicked” makes you less innocent when you are victimized by it?
Yeah.
Like children. As kids, we’re wide-eyed, exuberant & ain’t got a care in the world. No bills. Innocent. But as we get older & deal more with society… go through real-life shit… we become kinda jaded. Imagine how different life would be if your worth as a human wasn’t based on how much money you made. We all done shit we ain’t wanna do for money… some ppl go to jail for it. Look at the trivial stuff we put value on. To a degree, society corrupts us.
That’s why child molesters & other inmates who mistreated/harmed kids get it the worst when they go to prison, cuz kids are innocent victims. Kids will walk right into danger cuz they have a different point of view on the world.
That’s a very romantic view of the world and innocence, but it’s only conjecture.
Ignorance to or knowledge of an uncontrollable force does not make you any less or more innocent when it comes to being victimized by it.
By your logic, people who know about a tsunami coming towards them deserve their fate more than those who are ignorant of it.
These people also have their own little jungle societies that are forced upon their offspring. Nobody has a choice in whether or not they want to be a part of society until adulthood. It’s forced on everybody.
My dude, stop lookin for debate where there is none.
MAD.
BECUZ.
STYLED.
UPON.
LOL Man, you’re really sad. This what you do for fun on a Saturday night?
I actually feel more sorry for you than I do for the Amazonian tribe.
There’s a huge difference between a natural disaster like a tsunami and a drug gang raiding a village & killin everybody. Nobody’s sayin tsunami victims are more “deserving” of death. That’s you twistin up what I wrote, cuz you wanna play some kinda chess game in the comment box.
Logic fail.
UMAD.
“Logic fail.”
Aight, Mr. Spock lol
What’s illogical (and sad) is that you’re petty enough to believe I’m mad at an online comment from a nameless, faceless phantom. You might as well be spyware.
But at least you’re comical spyware, which is why I haven’t put your comments in the spam filter.
Comical spyware is a compliment as far as I’m concerned.
HOLLA!
Then we turn around and call them savages and/or uncivilized. That’s sad man.
Great post.
Heartbreaking to hear such wickedness going down.
Simon… step off, lame-ass.
Riveting tale, chap.
Dazzle me with more of your wordsmithing.