Robert Molina
Robert Molina is a human rights defender and indigenous leader of the Kokonuko people, who are members of the Asociación de Cabildos Genaro Sánchez (Genaro Sánchez Association of Indigenous Councils) and the Consejo Regional Indígena del Cauca -CRIC- (Cauca Regional Indigenous Council), on the border with Colombia. Since his youth, he has served his community in Cauca, first as a community member and public service driver, supporting mingas, assemblies and political-organisational processes, and later, taking on leadership responsibilities within his community and the Indigenous Guard as a key figure in the governance and protection of Kokonuko territory. His human rights defence focuses on the defence of territory, collective rights and life.
Between 2017 and 2018, Robert Molina was the coordinator of the Indigenous Guard of the Kokonuko reserve, promoting community projects to consolidate the Guard, which includes men, women, girls, boys and elders appointed by the Community Assembly. In 2017, he served as an indigenous authority of the reserve, strengthening indigenous education, the Indigenous Guard and the application of indigenous law in a context of profound state absence and the reconfiguration of the armed conflict. His work has included humanitarian actions such as searching for missing persons, supporting victims of kidnapping and displacement, protecting sacred sites and supporting national mobilisations and national mingas for the rights of indigenous peoples.
From October 2018 to December 2021, he served as Coordinator of the CRIC Indigenous Guards in the programme for the defence of life and human rights. In this role, he promoted training programmes on cultural identity, spirituality, autonomy and human rights, supporting indigenous guards in the eleven communities that make up the CRIC, as well as training initiatives in Ecuador and Peru on territorial defence and governance. During those years, the changing nature of the armed conflict, the rise of drug trafficking and illegal mining exacerbated the risks faced by the communities Robert Molina supports, with threats, attacks, recruitment, displacement and direct assaults against the Indigenous Guard; in response, Robert supported humanitarian missions and community protection initiatives.
As a result of his leadership, Robert Molina has been the target of multiple threats, extortion and accusations by various armed groups, as well as paramilitary and organised crime groups. These attacks have sought to intimidate him and his family, and to undermine the Indigenous Guard’s work, causing serious psychological, cultural and community harm, and putting his life and that of other defenders at risk. Despite this, he continues to fight through the Indigenous Guard as a collective actor promoting community decision-making and the defence of human rights and nature.
On behalf of the CRIC and in the framework of agreements with organisations of the Indigenous Movement in Ecuador, since 2023 Robert has been supporting indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon, such as the A’i Cofán, Siekopai, Waorani, Kichwa, Shuar and Siona, in training processes to leaders and indigenous guards for the defence of territory, life, human rights and the strengthening of cultural and spiritual identity. Through his work, Robert reaffirms the ancestral resistance of the Kokonuko people, maintaining that defending territory, culture and indigenous autonomy is a commitment to the life, dignity and existence of the indigenous people.
