Mapuche Indigenous Leader; Founder of the Aflailai Foundation, a URI Cooperation Circle; and URI Trustee for Latin America and the Caribbean
Ms. Painiqueo is an experienced Mapuche leader and activist, working for the preservation, dissemination, and sociopolitical, economic, and cultural development of the Mapuche people. She founded the Aflailai Foundation in 1980 in Santiago, Chile. Sofia has facilitated and participated in several programs and training courses for organizations, communities, colleges and universities to further the understanding of indigenous issues and the Mapuche culture. She contributes to the development of a grapheme alphabet to write the Mapuche language, produces Mapuche music, and directed a documentary on the Mapuche in Chile. Ms. Painiqueo was a candidate for Member of Parliament and a Councillor of the Lumaco commune. She represents Mapuche women in different national and international meetings, and is a member of URI as a woman of faith and based on her firm belief in the need for more inclusive intercultural dialogue. She is based in Lumaco, Chile.
