A British environmental activist and Catholic missionary has been found burned to death in the Amazon.
Paul McAuley, 71, was found dead at a youth hostel he founded for indigenous students in the city of Iquitos.
Authorities have been questioning six indigenous youths who lived at the hostel since the man’s body was found on Tuesday.
Mr McAuley had been helping Peru's historically discriminated tribes in the battle against powerful oil and mining interests.
In 2010, the government tried to strip him of his residency for allegedly inciting unrest after he fought attempts to open the Amazon to drilling.
The La Salle Christian Brothers said in a statement that the activist had been burned to death.
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.
They also complained that Garcia's government has done little to impede rampant logging, which they say threatens the existence of indigenous groups.
Environmental activists have paid tribute to Mr McAuley.
"What tough news. A great man who did a lot for indigenous communities, their rights and the forests," tweeted Julia Urrunaga, director of Peru Programs at Environmental Investigation Agency
