Lost tribes of the Amazon found alive and well in Peru

Culture Minister Juan Ossio on Friday displayed spears, arrows and other objects he said belonged to Amazon tribes in eastern Peru still untouched by civilization and protected by the government.

"We couldn't believe that in the 21st century there were still people living far from global society in our nation. We're showing you proof those people live in our Amazon region," Ossio told reporters.

He said the hunting tools, bags made from vegetable fiber and nutshells were found in 2009 and 2010 by an expedition of the National Institute for the Development of Andean, Amazonian and African-Peruvian People (Indepa) in southeastern Peru.

"It's impossible to say how many, but they are indigenous groups living in voluntary isolation and with no contact" with civilization, said Ossio, who is an anthropologist by profession.

He also showed pictures and videos taken by Indepa agents of the unknown tribes living in sugar cane and palm-leaf huts in a swath of jungle in the Cusco and Madre de Dios regions.

He said Indepa set up checkpoints in the jungle area to prevent unauthorised visits and above all to stop illegal loggers from entering the region.

Last month, a 14-year-old boy who ventured in the forbidden zone was wounded by a spear from one of the native groups in the area.

And in March 2009, Survival International reported that a native tribe in Peru were chased across the border into Brazil by illegal loggers.

The non-governmental group reported the incident to the Peruvian government urging it to do more to protect the indigenous territories by banning all illegal activities and expelling all non-natives from the region.

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