British Environmental Activist Found Dead In Peru

British Environmental Activist McAuley had been helping Peru’s historically discriminated tribes in the battle against powerful oil and mining interests.

LIMA: A British environmental activist who worked to protect indigenous Amazon tribes from developers has been found burned to death in Peru.The body of Paul McAuley, 71, was discovered by students on Tuesday in the Amazon city of Iquitos.

British environmental activist McAuley had travelled to the Peruvian Amazon in 2000 to help indigenous activists and set up a civil association, Red Ambiental Loretana.

In 2004,McAuley founded the Loreto Environmental Network, a group that works on behalf of indigenous groups. He and environmentalists opposed then-President Alan Garcia’s moves to open up the Amazon to unprecedented mining and oil exploration and drilling.

McAuley and environmentalists opposed then-President Alan Garcia’s moves to open up the Amazon to unprecedented mining and oil exploration and drilling.

McAuley also complained that Garcia’s government has done little to impede rampant logging, which they say threatens the existence of indigenous groups.Peru’s Episcopal Conference paid tribute to McAuley along with environmental groups and activists around the world.

Local police has launched an investigation into his death, and has so far questioned six young indigenous who lived at the hostel.Officials claimed he was inciting unrest after spoke out against their attempts to open the Amazon forest to drilling.

Related posts