Board of Directors
Nilo Cayuqueo (Mapuche) nilo@abyayalanexus.net	Nilo Cayuqueo (Mapuche), originally from the Los Toldos community in the southwest part of Argentina, has been active in Indigenous rights work for more than 30 years. He participated in the First International Conference on Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations in Geneva 1977. In 1985 he participated in the Working Group on Indigenous Populations in the UN’s Economic and Social Council, which was put in charge of writing the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 1989 he worked with the International Labor Organization to draft ILO 169, an extremely foundational convention for recognizing Indigenous poeples’ rights. Nilo was a founding member of the South & Meso American Indian Rights Center (SAIIC) in Oakland, California and was the founder and director of the Abya Yala Fund, which worked to support self-determined Indigenous community projects.  Nilo is currently a board member of the Indigenous World Association based in Hawaii and an advisor and nominator for the Goldman Environmental Prize. He has returned to his native Argentina after 25 years in the United States and in international Indigenous activism in order to work more closely with the Mapuche people.
Victor Montejo (Jakaltek Maya) victor@abyayalanexus.net	Dr. Victor Montejo (Jakaltek Maya) was a teacher in a small Mayan community during the years of violence in Guatemala, and witnessed the brutality of armed conflict that terrorized the Indigenous peoples of Guatemala. Victor Montejo was exiled with his family in Mexico for a few years, then came to the United States where he completed his graduate studies in anthropology. Currently working at the University of California, Davis where he is a professor in the Department of Native American Studies, Victor Montejo is the author of several books including "Testimony: Death of an indigenous community of Guatemala", "El Pajaro that cleans the World and Other Mayan Fables ", "Voices in Exile" and "Mayan Intellectual Renaissance". In 2003, Montejo returned to Guatemala to work on anthropological research with a Fulbright scholarship, and became involved in partisan politics, because in December of that year he was elected Member of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala. He also served as Secretary of Peace to the presidency, and President of the Congressional Commission on Indigenous Communities. Montejo currently works with indigenous organizations in Guatemala and with his experience wants to continue supporting the struggle of indigenous peoples in self-determination.
Margarita Gutierrez (Otomí) margarita@abyayalanexus.net	Margarita Gutierrez Romero (Hñañhu) is a member of the Hñañhu (Otomí) community of Ixmiquilpan in the high plateau region of central Mexico, but currently works with Indigenous communities of Chiapas. She has worked in local, national and international organizations. For example, she was vice-president of the board of Abya Yala Fund and works with the Continental Network of Indigenous Women, was a founding member of  the Asamblea Nacional Indígena Plural por la Autonomía-ANIPA and was a founding member of the CNI (Indigenous National Congress), and has worked on radio, video, and language programs at a local level. She is currently working for the PRD party in Mexico as a means to support Indigenous communities.
Arthur Manuel (Neskonlith Shuswap) arthur@abyayalanexus.net	Arthur Manuel (Secwepemc) is a member of the Neskonlith Indian Band of the Secwepemc Nation, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada and was elected Chief of the Neskonlith Indian Band from 1995-2003 and as Chairperson for the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council for 6 years.  Mr. Manuel is the spokesperson for the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade (INET), a network of indigenous organizations who are achieving recognition for Aboriginal Title and Treaty Rights at the international level. He has contributed to international conferences such as  United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City, the Convention on Biological Diversity Conferences, and the World Social Forum. He has presented arguments and submissions in favor of Aboriginal and Treaty rights to the World Trade Organizations, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the International Olympic Committee.
Kerin Gould kerin@abyayalanexus.net	Dr. Kerin Gould was a volunteer and translator for the Abya Yala Fund after her return to the U.S. from living in the Hñañhu community of San Pablito. While in Mexico, she helped to start the Mbithe Hñañhu Cultural Center where she became acutely aware of the internal and external difficulties faced by Indigenous communities trying to develop their economies and sustain well-being.  After completing a degree in natural health, she went on to the department of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis, where she received her doctorate. Her dissertation, entitled “Connecting Indigenous Worldview, Well-Being, and Community Projects” examines the relationship between Indigenous worldviews and goals, methods, and results of community development projects in the hopes of identifying processes that will support relevant, self-determined, culturally specific projects in the future.