{"id":6553,"date":"2026-07-08T18:18:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T22:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amotocodie.test\/ayoreo-groups-isolation\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T18:18:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T22:18:07","slug":"ayoreo-groups-isolation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.iniciativa-amotocodie.org\/en\/the-chaco\/ayoreo-groups-isolation\/","title":{"rendered":"Ayoreo Groups in Isolation"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Ayoreo Groups in Isolation<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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In the north of the Paraguayan Chaco, there are still Ayoreo groups living in isolation, meaning that so far they have had no contact whatsoever with modern civilization and that, for the moment, they show no desire to abandon their life in the forest. These are the only groups in such a situation in the Gran Chaco.<\/strong><\/p>

All the uncontacted groups live and move within the traditional territory belonging to the Ayoreo people. Although no one has direct contact with them, their presence can be felt and verified through signs such as tracks and holes in trees that indicate they have been harvesting honey. In some cases, they can even be suddenly perceived from a distance.<\/p>

These people in isolation continue their nomadic life sustained by hunting, gathering wild fruits and honey, as well as by fishing and small plots they cultivate as they pass through during the rainy season. Together with their territory\u2014high and low forests, palm groves, open fields, dry riverbeds, streams, and lagoons\u2014they constitute an inseparable unit and a community of life.<\/p>

One of the aforementioned groups belongs to the totobiegosode local group; others belong to other unidentified local groups, but all belong to the Ayoreo people.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\tIsolated Ayoreo <\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tface multiple threats<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t to their self-determination and subsistence<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The accelerated disappearance of their territory due to deforestation, mining exploitation, cattle ranching, monoculture, infrastructure works, among other activities, exposes them to situations of forced contact.<\/p>

\"\"Most of the territory currently used by the uncontacted groups is in the hands of private owners: ranchers and investors, individuals and companies\u2014largely of Brazilian nationality<\/strong>\u2014a situation that also constitutes a violation of border security law. A tiny part of the territory is preserved through national parks or protected areas.<\/p>

For the groups in isolation, it is increasingly difficult to travel along their ancient annual migration paths, access parts of the habitat that are vital for their life and survival, and remain in contact with each other.<\/p>

In recent years, due to the voracious advance of the environmental exploitation frontier by private owners, as well as large infrastructure works, the presence of signs of displacement of these groups has increased. The fragmentation, violent transformation, and disappearance of their territory increasingly expose them to events of unwanted contact, disease contagion, and physical death.<\/p>

The climate crisis adds a large-scale threat, since water scarcity, rising temperatures, drought, and the disappearance of flora and fauna species expose these groups to situations of unwanted contact due to thirst and the loss of food sovereignty.<\/p>

A significant factor is missionary action, which still persists in the 21st century. To this day, missionary groups remain that try to force contact situations with these groups in order to convert them to their religion, thereby “taming” them and integrating them into the surrounding society, always in conditions of marginality. In Paraguay, the occupants of lands where isolated groups move promote these missionary endeavors with interest, since they fulfill the purpose of extracting these groups from their territories. In addition to the catastrophic consequences\u2014deaths, contagion of diseases, and reduction to undignified living conditions\u2014the survival of forced conversions constitutes acts of ethnocide: the Ayoreo, in their contacts with missionaries, are forced to deny their culture and worldview.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\tIndigenous peoples in isolation <\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\thave the right to self-determination<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t, that is, the right not to be contacted.<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Legal and political protection<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Regulatory measures<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The existing rights to life and self-determination, as well as the rights referring to the habitat\/territory of isolated or forest-dwelling groups, are enshrined, among others, in the following regulations:<\/p>