Late last year, members of the tribe began making appearances on the banks of popular jungle rivers which are populated with environmental tourists. Members of the tribe have attacked tourists in the area due to
encroachments into their ancestral land.
In October, a local member of the neighboring Matsiguenka Tribe, Nicolas Flores, who has maintained a long relationship with the Mascho-Pico was killed after several Mascho-Pico members appeared at his house, calling him by name. Flores was one of the few people able to communicate with the isolated tribe as his tribal language is similar in tone and dialect.
Officials are speculating that there may be as few as 60 Mascho-Pico Indians left, and their recent violent actions may be just the latest example of a group of people trying to defend their way of life in the face of what they perceive to be an invasion of their home.