February 2019, ScientificAmerican.com 55for a shaman from a community three days upriver in a neigh-
boring national park.
The shaman, Alfonso Matapí, age 78, says that when he arrived,
he quickly realized that the locals were out of sync with the nat-
ural elements of the jungle and had angered the far more power-
ful medicine men of the Tiger People. Franco’s plane, he opines,
“came down not because of a malfunction but because the tribes
didn’t want the flights. There were many flights. And they made
his plane crash.” (The others onboard were innocent victims.)
The guard perished because he entered forbidden lands near the
sacred salt lake; the animals that rely on the lake fought back.
“The thunder, wind and rain were [a message from the Tiger
People] saying, ‘Leave us alone,’ ” Matapí explains. “So I try to
send them thoughts saying, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to leave
you alone. Don’t worry, we’re not going to bother you.’ ”IT IS POSSIBLE, of course, that the isolated tribes will initiate con-
tact with their neighbors in the borderland. To help prepare
the residents of Curare for such an event, ACT and community
members have consulted with groups and individuals who
have experience with uncontacted tribes. Among them is LuisFelipe Torres, an anthropologist, who led a Ministry of Culture
team in Peru from 2012 to 2017 that oversaw a high-profile case
of contact.
In recent years different bands consisting of several mem-
bers of the Mashco Piro tribe began to emerge with increasing
frequency from the jungles in the Madre de Dios region of south-
ern Peru and attempt to trade with the locals. Their contacts
have continued intermittently ever since. Though mostly peace-
ful, misunderstandings have resulted in the deaths of at least
two villagers in 2011 and 2015—they were both shot with
arrows—which prompted the government to send in Torres and
his team to manage the situation.
Often, Torres notes, the emerging isolated peoples are eager
to exchange goods and food and may misinterpret the efforts of
the locals to shield them from potentially contaminated items as
a hostile gesture. That is likely what led to the two deaths in
Peru. Torres has helped Aristizabal arrange mutual visits be -
tween those living in Madre de Dios and the locals in Curare so
that the Colombians can learn from their counterparts.
Colombia’s new policy on isolated tribes assigns responsibili-
ties to a wide array of government agencies once the presence of a
previously unknown isolated tribe is suspected. And it increasesthe land rights and protections conferred on isolated tribes as con-
firmation of their existence moves from suspected to confirmed.
The document also requires contingency planning in case of first
contact and creates a national committee for coordination that
would include indigenous leaders and representatives from the
national land agency treasury, ministries of environment, health
and interior, and armed services, among others.
For his part, Aristizabal is under no illusions as to the size of
the challenges that he faces. If anyone needed a reminder, cer-
tain events of late have provided plenty. Recently a dissident
FARC faction was back in the area. One group found the wife of
a prominent local leader and village elder whom I met during
my visit and threatened to kill him and his family if he did not
stop speaking out about indigenous land rights. Yet Aristizabal
remains firm in his belief that shielding isolated tribes from con-
tact is the best thing to do. “Of course, it is very difficult to pro-
tect someone from contact forever,” he says. “But that doesn’t
mean that we shouldn’t respect their desire to avoid contact.
Why should we make the decision for them?”
In recent months ACT has continued to try to gather the proof
it needs to expand its efforts to other tribes. Not long ago it had a
potential breakthrough in the region up the
Caquetá where Franco perished. For five years
ACT members had been combing through
high-resolution photographs, searching for
evidence of the isolated, indigenous communi-
ty believed to live in Chiribiquete National
Park. One day in January 2017 Brian Hettler, a
staffer at ACT’s Virginia office, received some
of the clearest photographs he had ever seen of
the area, which was often obscured by clouds.
That day, the ubiquitous clouds had mirac-
ulously lifted, revealing tabletop mountains
studded with emerald green triple-canopy
jungle and rugged cliffs that are home to some
of the greatest concentrations of pre-Colum-
bian cave paintings in the world. It did not
take long for Hettler to spot a patch of white in the impenetrable
wall of green and, within it, what appeared to be the telltale faded-
brown color of a man-made dried-thatch roof.
Hettler believes he has found evidence of another isolated set-
tlement. ACT is already at work with the other indigenous tribes
that live in the area to develop protection plans. Now that the
Colombian government has embraced the ACT vision, if the pres-
ence of the tribe is further confirmed, perhaps it will be possible to
help that tribe continue living in its present state. Perhaps there,
too, for a time the relentless tide of modernity can be held at bay.MORE TO EXPLORE
Colombian Government Approves Decree for the Protection of Isolated Indigenous
Groups. Amazon Conservation Team. Published online July 18, 2018. a a on
tea org colo ian-govern ent-a roves-ground reaking-co unit -led-
national- u lic- olic - or-t e- rotection-o -isolated-indigenous-grou s
FROM OUR ARCHIVES
Prime Directive for the Last Americans. Claudio Angelo; Insights, May 2007.
The American Killed by Asian Islanders Hoped to Save Their Souls. Madhusree
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—Daniel Aristizabal,
Amazon Conservation Team
© 2019 Scientific American