Indigenous peoples in isolation in the Peruvian Amazon: their struggle for survival and freedom

247 Pages·2004·1.64 MB·English

by  Beatriz Huertas Castillo

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN ISOLATION
IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON
Their struggle for survival and freedom
Beatriz Huertas Castillo
IWGIA
Document No. 100 - Copenhagen 2004
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INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN ISOLATION IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON
Their struggle for survival and freedom
Beatriz Huertas Castillo
Copyright:Beatriz Huertas Castillo and IWGIA
2004 – All Rights Reserved
Cover design, typesetting and maps: Jorge Monrás
English translation: Elaine Bolton
Editorial production: Alejandro Parellada
Prepress and Print: Centraltrykkeriet Skive A/S
Skive, Denmark
ISBN: 87-90730-77-1
Distribution in North America:
Transaction Publishers
390 Campus Drive
Somerset, New Jersey 08873
www.transactionpub.com
INTERNATIONAL WORK GROUP
FOR INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
Classensgade 11 E, DK 2100 - Copenhagen, Denmark
Tel: [phone] - Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected] - Web: www.iwgia.org
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This book has been produced with financial support
from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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CONTENT
Preface ................................................................................................ 10
Introduction ........................................................................................ 14
Chapter 1
Indigenous Peoples in isolation ..................................................20
Who are they?.....................................................................................20
Chapter 2
Madre de Dios, a general overview ............................................24
Geo-environmental context ..............................................................24
Historic context...................................................................................25
Economic context................................................................................33
Cultural context: the indigenous
peoples of Madre de Dios today....................................................37
Chapter 3
Indigenous peoples in isolation
in the north of Madre de Dios .....................................................42
Areas of transit: geographical
and biophysical features ...................................................................42
Experiences of direct contact with peoples
in isolation. A chronology................................................................43
Possible causes of their isolation ....................................................49
Demographic and physical features...............................................55
Cultural features.................................................................................56
Settlement and migration pattern...................................................61
Land occupation .................................................................................63
The rationale behind resource exploitation..................................64
Chapter 4
The current problem ........................................................................66
Logging.................................................................................................66
Hunters, fishermen and gatherers..................................................71
The tourism sector.............................................................................72
Colonization.........................................................................................74
The missionaries.................................................................................75
Oil ..........................................................................................................78
Chapter 5
The risks ..............................................................................................82
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Sightings ...............................................................................................82
Clashes..................................................................................................82
The new raids.....................................................................................83
Territorial dislocations and inter-ethnic problems.....................84
The effect of tools - the Alto Purús case.....................................87
Prior to initial contact........................................................................88
Post-contact problems........................................................................97
Loss of territory: from nomadism to a sedentary life ..............99
Creating new needs, dependency and begging ..........................99
Chapter 6
The Territorial Reserve for indigenous
peoples in isolation and initial contact ...................................102
Current legislation............................................................................102
Officially established reserves.......................................................104
Nahua Kugapakori State Reserve .................................................104
The Camisea Project.........................................................................105
Irregularities in the Camisea Project and
its socio-environmental impacts....................................................106
Illegal logging ...................................................................................112
Territorial Reserve for the
Murunahua ethnic group ................................................................114
Territorial Reserve for the Mashco
Piro ethnic group..............................................................................116
Territorial Reserve for the Isconahua ethnic group.................119
Reserves in the process of being established.............................120
Other proposals ................................................................................122
Chapter 7
The Territorial Reserve for indigenous
peoples in isolation in Madre de Dios:
FENAMAD’s experience ...............................................................124
FENAMAD.........................................................................................124
Negotiations for the protection of the
territory of the peoples in isolation: a long history.................127
History repeats itself.......................................................................134
FENAMAD’s complaints: the State’s
silence and impunity........................................................................135
The role of the local organisations...............................................137
The Reserve for peoples in isolation............................................139
Chapter 8
Isolated peoples along the Peru/Brazil border, Brazilian
policy and proposals for joint work..........................................142
The isolated peoples of the area...................................................143
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A little background..........................................................................144
Peoples in isolation and conflicts
along the border...............................................................................145
FUNAI’s role.....................................................................................148
A new phase: respect for the right to autonomy.....................150
More recent attacks: agreements
between Brazilian authorities........................................................152
Lands for the indigenous in isolation..........................................153
Coordination with Peru..................................................................154
Chapter 9
Proposals and prospects for the protection
of isolated indigenous peoples in
the current political climate.........................................................158
Territory first....................................................................................161
Territorial supervision.....................................................................163
Indigenous peoples in isolation in PNAs....................................164
Prevention..........................................................................................165
Contingency plans............................................................................166
Emergency health plans: controlling illness ...............................166
From isolation to sustained contact .............................................168
The great challenge for the government ....................................170
Final thoughts ...................................................................................172
Chapter 10
Conclusions and recommendations ...........................................176
Annexes ............................................................................................181
Bibliography .....................................................................................236
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mapa
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PREFACE
I t sounds like a fairy tale. Today, at the dawn of the third millen
nium, in the height of the information age, when nearly all the
world’s nations and economies are connected by intercontinental
transportation and instantaneous electronic communications, as arti-
ficial satellites encircle the Earth and concrete plans exist to send
human beings to Mars, there still remain, in the remote Amazon
rainforest, small nomadic groups who reject contact with the rest of
society and remain isolated from so-called ‘civilization’.
Variably called isolated indigenous peoples, uncontacted Indians,
nomads, groups in voluntary or forced isolation, free or excluded
peoples, as well as ‘naked Indians’, ‘wild Indians,’ savages, Mashcos
and Chunchos, very little is known about these peoples, their his-
tory, territories, languages, knowledge and ways of life, nor about
their perceptions of the strangers who surround them and who
increasingly encroach upon their lands. We can assume with some
certainty that they are of various different ethnic groups; that they
are not as few as some loggers, journalists, scholars and missionaries
would have us believe; that they migrate through vast areas between
the different basins of Madre de Dios and other remote regions of
the Amazon, hunting, fishing and gathering the resources they find
scattered in the cruel, exuberant forest; that some of them have
abandoned agriculture, perhaps fleeing from atrocities committed
during the “Rubber Fever” a century ago; that they know not of
money or the things that money can buy, nor of slavery or debt
peonage; that they have no immunity to common illnesses such as
colds and flu; that they are not embarrassed by their own nudity
because by wearing their body paints and other adornments, they
are not in fact naked, at least, not until someone else arrives to
inform them otherwise.
There are many assumptions, many theories, much controversy.
The only thing we know for certain is that, on multiple occasions,
and through different actions, gestures and forms of expression,
these human groups have emphatically and repeatedly told us that
they do not yet want contact with outside society. Not with neighbouring
groups of indigenous people, nor with loggers, missionaries, indig-
enous Evangelical “brothers”, anthropologists, film crews, tourists,
explorers, not with anyone. We do not know exactly why. Perhaps
through distant memories of the bloody “Rubber Rever,” or perhaps
because of more recent conflicts with different invaders, perhaps
10 through fear of introduced diseases, or simply because they believe
themselves to be the only true human beings, while the rest of us or
nothing more than barbarians. They probably have their reasons. Is
it really so difficult to respect and honor their decision?
Who are these mysterious peoples, these renegades fleeing “civi-
lization”? For the logging companies, at least officially, they do not
exist, they are but an invention of anthropologists, ecologists and
radical indigenous activists. For the loggers themselves, perhaps not
in their press releases and official statements, but in the forest,
where they are undertaking predatory and illegal logging of tropical
hardwoods, these non-existent beings become mortal enemies, brave-
ly and mercilessly defending their territory with bows and arrows
against shotguns, rifles and explosives. For the transnational oil
companies, they are an additional factor to be considered in their
analysis of risks and benefits, in some cases warranting the hiring of
anthropologists, the production of contingency plans and investment
in PR. For some missionaries, they are souls to be conquered for the
Kingdom of God, whatever the cost in lives, suffering, disruption
and humiliation for the poor heathens thus saved. For some scien-
tists, they are Paleolithic curiosities whose scientific value diminishes
once they abandon nomadic hunting and gathering for settled agri-
culture. For film crews and adventure tourism companies, they are
an attraction, an exotic, romantic spectacle that increases the value of
their productions and tour offerings. For the Peruvian government
they are common, everyday citizens, with no special protection or
consideration in the current laws concerning native peoples.
In this important book, Beatriz Huertas offers us an objective yet
humane vision of the current situation of isolated indigenous groups
in southeast Peru. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews
with people living in areas adjacent to these isolated populations, she
presents solid evidence of their existence, their territorial extension,
their cultural and linguistic diversity, and their considerable popu-
lation. She also provides a thorough review of various bibliographic
sources, compiling in a single book many relevant observations and
facts that had been previously scattered throughout numerous his-
toric documents, scientific publications as well as obscure or unpub-
lished works such as field reports, personal observations by various
specialists and internal documents of FUNAI, the National Indian
Foundation of Brazil, an organization working with similar issues on
the other side of an international boundary that these indigenous
groups do not recognize or obey.
This book offers us historic and anthropological perspectives
from which to understand the fragility of isolated indigenous groups
in the face of contact with outside society. It helps us appreciate the
importance, in terms of cultural and biological diversity, of safe- 11