STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014
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But what he had to say about the aislados wasn’t a laughing matter. He had
been living in the settlement three years and seen them every summer.
‘They’ve turned up every year. They come to take stuff. Machetes, axes,
pots, whatever they find lying about.’
Hector said he had had three distinct encounters: ‘Chitonahuas’
stealing some of his possessions; another group, ‘Mashco-Piro’, cutting
tobacco plants; and then, last year, both groups turning up within 24
hours of each other – with a ‘Chitonahua’ woman heavily pregnant. The
latter spent eight days in the vicinity, and on the third day the pregnant
woman gave birth.
‘They were walking around right here. One of them left a machete
behind.’
How many were there? What did they look like?
‘Men, women and children. They’re tall, painted yellow …’
The Murunahua Reserve is one of just five reserves established for
aislados in Peru, and would be one of 10 if the government excepted
proposals for another five. Evidence for establishing reserves for aislados
has been collected over many years – but pressure from loggers and
the oil and gas industry, combined with little or no political will,
has made protecting the aislados’ a tremendous challenge. Funding
for the Dulce Gloria post comes from the regional indigenous
organization ORAU, supported by the Rainforest Foundation Norway.
The Peruvian state has not spent a single sol on it.
The ORAU president, Josué Faquín Fernández, a Shipibo man,
says that serious challenges remain when it comes to protecting the
Muruanahua Reserve. There are posts on other rivers, but one, the
Inuya post, is ‘full’ of loggers and narco-traffickers.
‘It was very tough at first,’ he explains when we meet in Pucallpa. ‘The
loggers and narco-traffickers threatened to kill us and burn down the
post. But wewere smart.Wemade sure the local populationparticipated.
Now the local population is committed to help protect the reserve.’
Recently a new, major threat has arisen. The government wants
to create an oil and gas concession which would include areas
bordering the reserve used by the aislados. ‘We respect their habitat
and their culture, and we have the responsibility and obligation to
protect them,’ Josué explains. ‘They live in the forest, and the forest
is their market. That’s how they live.’
ACONADYSH president
Arlindo Ruiz Santos doing
the cooking
An Ashéninka woman
in Nuevo Eden
preparing masato
Dulce Gloria community
member and Ashéninka
woman Rosa Pacaya Ruiz
