The Peruvian Episcopal Conference, through a statement sent to Fides News Agency, reported the death of brother Paul McAuley, a member of the Institute of the Brothers of Christian Schools (La Salle).
The British clergyman was found dead on Tuesday, April 2, 2019, inside the premises of the intercultural student “La Salle” community, in the district of Belén in Iquitos, department of the Peruvian forest, in the Loreto region.
“The Bishops’ Conference invites the authorities to clarify the facts and find those responsible for this event,” the statement said. The prosecutor’s office of the Province of Maynas (Iquitos area) has decided to “open an investigation into the death of the British religious Paul McAuley, director of the boarding school for young indigenous people in Loreto.”
Born in Portsmouth, England, in 1947, Paul McAuley had been in Peru since 1995, where he had founded the “Colegio Fe y Alegría N° 43” in Zapallal, Puente Piedra district, Lima. He then worked in Moyobamba and San José de Amazonas. For 19 years he lived in Iquitos, where he had been in charge of the radio programs “La Voz de la Selva”, he had participated in various development projects for the populations living along the Amazonas and Huallaga rivers, and he had dedicated himself to raising funds for the young natives who came to Iquitos to study. He was also known for his commitment to protecting the environment and indigenous peoples.
