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Houses built by Indians from Peru were found three miles (five kilometers) within the Brazilian border. Illegal logging is displacing uncontacted tribes in Peru and forcing them into Brazil, conservation groups say. Photo by Gleison Miranda/FUNAI

There have been several major shakeups in Peru's capital these last few weeks -- bribery scandals toppling the Peruvian Cabinet, President Alan Garcia hiring a new prime minister and assembling a new Cabinet lineup, the Lima stock market suffering its worst losses ever  -- and so the world's attention has been focused on Lima. Meanwhile, a historic struggle deep in the Amazon has receded from public view: that of uncontacted tribes fleeing illegal logging efforts. The story broke in May 2008 when photographs were released of tribespeople covered in paint and pointing drawn bows at cameras. The photos caused a worldwide media frenzy and drew attention to the Peruvian government's participation in an unlawful land-grab by logging interests operating along the Peru-Brazil border. (Click here for documentary filmmaker and author Kim MacQuarrie's lucid summary of the struggle.) So, what's been happening since? Apparently, loggers are killing tribespeople and have continued to destroy the tribes' habitats in Peru, driving the people into Brazilian territory, reports Stuart Grudgings of the International Herald Tribune. (See also story in National Geographic; link below.)  Grudgings writes in his Oct. 17 article, "Peru accused of failing to protect Amazon tribes":

 Evidence is mounting that unchecked logging in the Peruvian Amazon is pushing some of the world's last isolated tribes into Brazil, increasing conflicts over land and food, a leading Brazilian tribe researcher and indigenous rights groups say. From his observation outpost in a remote part of Brazil's Acre state near the Peru border, Jose Meirelles of the government's Indian affairs agency Funai told Reuters he was seeing regular evidence of uncontacted tribes fleeing the destruction of their traditional homeland. "Putting it simply, the loggers are killing and expelling the isolated people. It's clear that they (the Indians) are coming here," Meirelles told Reuters by e-mail.

Click here to read the entire story: Peru claims that logging is not causing the uncontacted tribes to flee, but observers from indigenous rights groups claim otherwise. They showcase photographic evidence of continued logging activity in areas that belong to the uncontacted groups and of new indigenous settlements being built (hastily) in Brazil. The tribes are fleeing for their lives. Peru's Department of Indian Affairs is not living up to its promise "to recognize and protect uncontacted indigenous communities." One hundred days (Oct. 1) after Peru's government promised to report on the impact of illegal logging on tribes in the Amazon, no report was filed, reports Survival International. In a brazen display of arrogance, Alan Garcia last year suggested that the uncontacted tribes were a fiction invented by groups opposed to logging interests. What will be lost when the tribes disappear from Peru? Between three and fifteen unique civiliations. Safety, peace of mind and a sense of home for hundreds of indigenous Peruvians. And the Peruvian government will lose respect in the eyes of the world for reneging on its promises to protect its people and for facilitating illegal, habitat-destroying logging operations.  Now that's corruption. Related links: "Uncontacted" Tribes Fled Peru Logging, Arrow Suggests (Oct. 2, 2008, National Geographic) Uncontacted Tribes Report Is 100 Days Late (Oct. 1, 2008, Survival International) Peru's Uncontacted Tribes Threatened by Oil Companies & Illegal Loggers (Aug. 16, 2008, Kim MacQuarrie's Peru & South America Blog)