(New York, January 26, 1943) Colombian anthropologist who since 1972 has supported the rights of indigenous peoples in the Colombian Amazon. As National Director of Indigenous Affairs, he achieved recognition of the collective ownership of eighteen million hectares by indigenous peoples and represented the Colombian government in the negotiation of Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO). In 1990, he created the Gaia Amazonas Foundation, whose goal is to accompany indigenous peoples in implementing their rights, as well as the conservation of their environment. Since 2015, he has promoted the initiative of creating the Anaconda Trail, a socio-environmental mosaic that seeks to safeguard ecosystemic and cultural connectivity in the region north of the Amazon River, as a specific contribution to global climate change. This vision was captured in the documentary El sendero de la Anaconda, which featured him together with Wade Davis. He has been awarded a dozen international prizes, including the Special Presidential Award (Ireland); the Right Livelihood Award, known as the Alternative Nobel Prize (Sweden); the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship; the National Environmental Award in Colombia; and The Order of the Golden Ark (Netherlands). He is currently the Secretary General of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO).