Indigenous leaders and local experts say the alleged Huaorani attack on the Taromenane tribe over the weekend could have been avoided by appropriate state or local actions. 

Milagros Aguirre, executive director of the Alejando Labaka Foundation in the Amazon says her organization was constantly alerting authorities about the expeditions that Huaoranis related to Ompura and Buganey were sending out to look for and seek vengeance against the Taromenane, a nomadic tribe living in voluntary isolation in Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park.

A month ago, the couple Ompura and Buganey were found murdered, lanced by spears. The attack is presumed to have been carried out by Taromenane and Tagaeri, the last two uncontacted tribes in Ecuador’s jungle.

“The sense of vengeance and fear caused this situation. We are all to blame, but this is clearly a state responsibility. They didn’t know how to protect these peoples. This is a chronicle of a death foretold,” said Aguirre.

To her knowledge, the Huaoranis organized three expedtions into the jungle to hunt for the Taromenane. She says they caused a “genocide” and kidnapped two girls.
“This revenge has probably led to the deaths of at least half of the Taromenane population. It remaisn to be seen whether these groups still exist or whether the jungle has been ethnically cleeansed of them.”

The national vicepresident of the Huaorani Nation Gilberto Nenquimo says that those who carried out the massacre used guns, rifles, and fire to kill the Taromenane.

“It’s concerning ... we don’t know where we got all those weapons from. We’re very worried because communication with (the Huaorani village of Yarantaro) is very limited.”

The Huaorani are blocking outsiders from entering their villages to prevent any arrests.

Original story