Peru: Government Expels Paul McAuley, Religious Environmental Activist · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

This post is part of our special coverage Forest Focus: Amazon.
On Friday 2 of this month, the news broke that “The British religious Paul McAuley, president of the Environmental Network of Loreto (RAL) today received a resolution from the Ministry of Interior (MININTER) reporting the termination of his residence in our country, “as reported [es] by the website of Radio Oriente. According to a Police Intelligence report [es], the virtual expulsion was based on the fact that “since 2006 to date, he has actively participated in various public events with a political nuance, such as participating in marches through different streets of the city Iquitos in the company of union groups and advocacy organizations who defend Amazonian native communities.”
Paul McAuley in a march defending the environment in Iquitos, Perú. Image by Juan Arellano.
“Brother Paul,” as he is widely known in Iquitos because of his work defending indigenous communities and the environment of the Amazon jungle, had been threatened some time ago with this measure, which of course was rejected in several areas and especially in Iquitos [es], where members of native communities held [es] a rally today in front of the Higher Court of Loreto in that city. Earlier, the Organization of Indigenous Students in the Peruvian Amazon (OEPIAP), had reported [es] they would march and protest. Even the Awajún indigenous people from the Datem province of Maranhao offered [es] him refuge in their territory.
Paco Bardales from the blog Diario de IQT  cronicles [es] the work of “Brother Paul”:
Paul Mc Auley vive dos décadas en el Perú … Ha seguido de  cerca el caso de los temas de contaminación petrolera en el río  Corrientes, del caso de Andoas … Precisamente por su posición  decidida, Mc Auley ha sido constantemente satanizado por diversos  intereses de poder. Uno de ellos fue el del alcalde de Maynas, Salomón  Abensur, quien no dudó en tildarlo  de “terrorista blanco” cuando Mc Auley y un colectivo de personas se  opusieron a la  instalación del botadero municipal de Iquitos en la  zona de amortiguamiento de la Reserva Nacional Allpahuayo Mishana … El  atestado para expulsar a Mc Auley del Perú está vigente desde el año  pasado, pero los intentos por expulsarlo desde el gobierno vienen desde  el año 2008 (aunque los intentos de amedrentamiento contra su  persona vienen  desde el 2006)
Si encontramos a una persona que se preocupa por:
¿Qué haríamos con esa persona?, ¿la respetaríamos?,  ¿estaríamos a  favor, o en contra de sus acciones?. Al parecer, al actual gobierno no  le gusta que otras  personas hagan lo que se supone ellos deberían  hacer, y no encontraron  mejor solución que expulsar a dicho usurpador  de sus funciones.
If we find a person who cares about:
What would we do with that person? Would we respect him? Would we be in favor or against his actions? Apparently, the current government does not like other people doing what they are supposed to do as a government, and they couldn’t find a better solution than expelling the usurper of their duties.
Silvio Rendón from the blog Gran Combo Club looks at [es] some reasons for the expulsion:
El gobierno ha aprovechado el clima de miedo por un supuesto  rebrote  senderista para expulsar a un sacerdote británico, Paul  McAuley, en  Iquitos, … Ahora vemos que otros sacerdotes  ambientalistas también son acusados y  podrían ser expulsados del Perú, aquí.  … Así es la cosa en el segundo alanato: una expeditiva Sanción   para los Defensores del Medio Ambiente, y que las extractivas   contaminantes pasen piola.
To see brother Paul for yourself, you can see an interview he did last year. As it is a bit long, it was divided into four parts and can be found here [es], here [es], here [es] and here [es]. In this other video by The Guardian, titled Blood Spilled in the Amazon Jungle: Andoas, Napo and Bagua (in English, subtitled in Spanish) you can also learn about him and his work. There is a support group on Facebook: Yo tampoco quiero que el Hno. Paul Mc. Auley sea expulsado del Perú [es] (I do not want Brother Paul Mc. Auley to be expelled from Peru), and an event that is calling people to perform a sit-in protest in Lima: ¡Basta ya! – Rechazamos deportación de hno. Paul Mc. Aulley [es] (Enough! – We reject the deportation of Bro.Paul Mc. Aulley).
Finally, the latest news are that on July 5 Paul McAuley's brother had rejected [es] the accusations and announced [es] he would appeal the expulsion order. The next day, via Twitter it was said [es] that the judiciary would have admitted the filed Habeas Corpus. Also, that two British television networks have sent [es] reporters to Iquitos to give first-hand information from there. Photos of today's march showing support for McAuley in Iquitos can be found here, here, here y here. We'll see how events unfold in the coming days.
This post is part of our special coverage Forest Focus: Amazon.