Who We Are

The members of this council are: 

Council Members

Mindahi Bastida

Otomí-Toltec from the State of Mexico

 Director, Original Nations Program at The Fountain

Mindahi Crescencio Bastida Muñoz is the Director Original Nations Program at The Fountain and member of Mother Earth Delegation. Until July, 2020 was the director of the Original Caretakers Program, Center for Earth Ethics, Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. He is also the General Coordinator of the Otomi-Toltec Regional Council in Mexico, a caretaker of the philosophy and traditions of the Otomi-Toltec Peoples, and has been an Otomi-Toltec Ritual Ceremony Officer since 1988.

Bastida Muñoz is also the President of the Mexico Council of Sustainable Development, a member of the Steering Committee of the Indigenous Peoples’ Biocultural Climate Change Assessment Initiative (www.ipcca.info/ ), and has served as a delegate to several commissions and summits on indigenous rights and the environment including The Earth Summit 1992 and The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD, 2002). He is a member of the Executive Committee of Alliance Guardians of Mother Earth.

Born in Tultepec, Lerma, Mexico, he holds a Doctorate of Rural Development from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana He has written extensively on the relationship between the State and Indigenous Peoples, intercultural education, collective intellectual property rights and associated traditional knowledge, among other topics.

Wanka Inti

Qechua from Peru

Ancestral lineage: Son of healers of the Wanka nation, department of Junín- Peru.

 

  • Qellqa kamayoq.
  • Member of the Inka Council of the Musuq Tawnatinsuyu.
  • Kuraka, Hanan del Tawantinsuyu Kamachiq de Rimaq Marka (Body of Elders, amautas and leaders of organizations originating from Lima-Peru).
  • Kuraka of the Self-managed City
  • Pachacútec-Ventanilla-Callao-Peru and of the Wanka nation.
  • Chaski willaq. Messenger of the Circle of Wise Grandmothers and Grandfathers of Mother Earth.
  • Waka kamayoq protector of the Waka Ychsma-Maranga of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos UNMSM- Lima-Peru, at which he is a teacher.
  • Organizer of Inti Raymi, ceremonial party of Father Sun and solar and lunar ceremonies. Puñuy hampi kamayoq. Ancient healer of dreams.
  • Hypnotherapist, Vice President of the Peruvian Association of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis APHCE

Mike Abitoonse Giisis

Anishinaabe from the Great Lakes, Canada

Booshoo naymaginadok … hello all my relations .. my spirit name is Little Half Moon , I am Eagle clan of the Ojibway Nation and a Midewin man .. in our time of prophecy is was foretold about a time when we would pick up the lost pieces left on the trail .. my path lead me to the midewin lodge in 1989 and in my spiritual development have discovered my work is much engrained in prophecy .. my work is for the future generations and activating the goodness of life with that which creator and creation continues to generously place upon my path .. may our joining of knowledge bring light to the important work needed at this time … abitoonse giisis

Ninawa Inu Pereira Nunes Huni Kui

Huni Kui, Amazonia

Mission – Defend the rights of indigenous peoples and actively participate in the defense of the Amazon, forests, rivers and fauna, believing that it is the guarantee of the continuity of the life of the earth and of all beings that depend on it.

Academic Training – Leader of the Hungaro People, Leader of the Huni Kui People of Acre, graduating in Medicine from the Amazon University of Pando-Bolivia, training in Management of Indigenous Projects by the Institute of Development of Vocational Education Dom Moacyr-Rio Branco Acre, Course of Cooperative Management in the Katukina / Kaxinawa Indigenous Lands by Development Institute of Professional Education Dom Moacyr-Rio Branco Acre.

Professional Performance – Since 2016, he has been the President of the Huni Kui People’s Federation of Acre – FEPHAC, General Coordinator of the PIS 01/2018 Social Inclusion Project Mãtsisipatã nukun yunu xarabú banakin (Developing our organic agriculture) – Fundação Banco do Brasil – FBB and FEPHAC, Member of the Alliance Guardians of Mother Earth; Full Member of the National Council of Culture – CNPC / MinC, Member of the CNPC / MinC Culture Certification Committee, held the position of District Indigenous Health Advisor; State Councilor for Health of Acre, Alternate in the National Council of Indigenous Policy – CNPI, Fiscal Councilor at COIAB. He worked as an Assistant for Social Political Mobility in the Evangélica Caiuá Mission, Coordinator of the Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the river Envira – OPIRE / Feijó-AC.

Francisca Calfin

Mapuche from Chile

Lawentuchefe, Medicine Woman, from the Francisca Lienlaf Community, Calfin’s Widow. President of the Indigenous Association of the Human Rights Association of Indigenous Peoples of Chile. Member of Desarrollo Intercultural Chile (DISI).

Amautas – Knowledge Keepers

Julio Cesar Pacheco Kuk and
Yanira Beytia Castañeda

Maya, Campeche, Mexico

Both are originally from Campeche, State of Campeche, Mexico. They are representatives of the house of ancestral knowledge PACHAMAMA for 13 years, where they provide service by providing the community with the knowledge transmitted through their family regarding the herbalism of the region, as well as strategies to improve health and the relationship with Our Blessed Mother Earth, Our Divine Mother Nature and our Sister Humanity.

Julio is 39 years old, and he learned from a very young age the use of medicinal plants, seeing how his grandfathers and grandmothers cared for people. Since he was 18 years old, he has traveled through Mexico with the intention of gathering the knowledge of grandparents and grandmothers from all over Abya Yala and now in Campeche, he is sharing what he has learned.

Julio and Yanira have a ceremonial center where many men and women can receive medicine who want to sow their word, their advice and their guidance.

Puma Qero Pomaquero Minta

Kichua, Ecuador

Puruha Kichwa. Born in the community of LanLan Tsalaron.

Dedicated to research through the Andean chakra Chimborazo Achachila, to the field of healthy Andean food, agro-ecological production, natural wool clothing and virtues of using clay and stone utensils.

Professor at the Jatun Yachay Wasi Higher Technological Institute.

Member of the solar brotherhood INTIPAQ CHURIKUNA with headquarters in Cuzco.

Teresa de Jesus Quizhpe Guaman

Kichua, Ecuador

Teresa Quizhpe Guaman, a native of the Saraguro people, has dedicated herself to relearning the knowledge of the elders, grandfathers and grandmothers of wisdom in the communities. Her native language is Qichwa Incaico. She is dedicated to the cultivation of the agroecological type of farm, to the fabrics, to the treatment of food as a method of disease prevention.

She has knowledge of gastronomy, has training in Tourism, Andean Medicine and others. Currently manages the Chaqra Chimborazo Achachila in the province of Chimborazo, dedicated to the recovery of seeds and ancestral techniques of natural production and their conservation.

Laurencio Armando Robles Contreras

Otomi-Toltec, Mexico

Armando is from San Pedro Tultepec in the Valley of the Moon or Toluca Valley, in the State of Mexico. He is the guardian of the fire in the Otomí tradition through the Temazcal and is guardian of the lagoon and the Xiuhnantécatl volcano. He has assisted in the healing process in many places in Mexico, North America, and Japan.

Jorge Garcia

Mexika, Albuquerque, New Mexico

I was born and raised in the state of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, but I grew up Chicago where I obtained my formal education. In 1999, I served as an intern for the Tonantzin Land Institute, where I began to collaborate with the intercontinental Council of Indigenous Nations and Organizations (CONIC). I also served as a technical advisor to the Red de Mujeres Indígenas sobre Biodiversidad (Circle of Indigenous Women on Biodiversity.) This experience led me to co-find La Plazita Institute, a community space for gang prevention, community meetings, and youth programs.

From 2000 to 2010, I worked and managed the Iberoamerican Science Technology and Education Consortium (ISTEC), a center for network building with an emphasis on microelectronics research and the advancement of the digital library. Currently, I am the founder and Executive Director to the Board of Directors of the Center for Social Sustainable Systems (CESOSS) a non-for-profit community-based research and learning center that is serving our local community of Atrisco (South Valley).

I am also a co-founder of Earth Timekeepers, a non-profit dedicated to revitalizing indigenous calendars and related cosmogonical knowledge. Much of the work I do, both at the university and community level, is being done under three distinct theoretical frameworks: complex systems, critical consciousness, and network development.

I developed the Quadruple Helix (4H), which is a social paradigm to facilitate communication and strategic alliances between industry, government, academia, and non-profit organizations to support the cultural, political, social, and economic development of local communities. I am deeply involved in my culture. I am member of the Red Wolf Clan and I am also member of the Hermandad de Danza Azteca-Chichimeca de Conquista in New Mexico. I have focused my studies and practice on Mesoamerican calendars, Mexican indigenous thought and symbolism.

My main goal is to empower underprivileged and disenfranchised youth on issues related to identity, culture, and social entrepreneurship.

Emma Edelmira Aleman

Qolla from Jujuy, Argentina

I was born in Maimara-Jujuy province- Argentina.

Since the Year 2000, when I woke up from my lethargy and to become aware of what my authentic culture really was. I work with different communities in social work with women and children, with people on the streets. I organize tasks that most would have to value, but unfortunately most are not interested, for example: two or three neighbors clean the streets, we collect plastic containers (it is what goes to the rivers the most). We went out to defend our mountains for the mining companies, the Salar for the Lithium, also for our territory that they are always usurping, with the support of the provincial government, the same for the mines, leaving a lot of desolation and contaminants in the open.

The spiritual advisor for both Council Members and the Amautas are:

Mamo Manuel Coronado Simongama

KOGI from Colombia

Traditional Spiritual Mamo Leader, Kogi Peoples of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.

He participated in the ALUNA movie sharing the message of Mother Earth and his call to urgent action to avoid the collapse of the fragile web of life.

Narciso Coronado Vacuna

KOGI from Colombia

Son and interpreter of Mamo Manuel Coronado Simongama, a Kogi Elder, and a Kogi mother. He learnt Spanish at school and went to University to study Nursing. He accompanies his father in doing spiritual work in sacred sites in Sierra de Santa Marta and is a strong holder of Kogi traditions.

 The continuing formation of this Council will help us to fulfil the Prophesy of the Eagle and the Condor, as well as to advance in the understanding of the cosmological time of the New Dawn. Our work is consistent with the Continental movement that started in 1990 to spiritually unify the North and the South, and, as time permits; we will be reaching out to slowly include the many voices that are needed to continue on this path of Continental Unification, and efforts will be done to consolidate the four mandates in every community across Abya Yala so we can once again rebuild our Original Nations from the core of our homes, families, communities, and spiritual nations.

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