INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN ISOLATION IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON Their struggle for survival and freedom Beatriz Huertas Castillo IWGIA Document No. 100 - Copenhagen 2004 3 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: (45) 35 27 05 00 - Fax: (45) 35 27 05 07 E-mail: [email protected] - Web: www.iwgia.org 4 This book has been produced with financial support from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs 5 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 6 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 A little background .......................................................................... 144 7 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 8 mapa 9 PREFACE t sounds like a fairy tale. Today, at the dawn of the third millen I 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