In memory of those who accompany us from other realms

Robinson López Descanse was born on 26 March 1984 in the Ancestral Territory of the Inga People of Villagarzón, Putumayo. He was the fourth child born to Elvia Descanse Muchavisoy, current governor of the Chaluayaco Reserve, and Augusto López. He spent his childhood in the settlement of the Chaluayaco Reserve, surrounded by rivers, chagras and traditional medicine, until 1998, when his family was forcibly displaced to the urban centre of Puerto Caicedo following the murders of his father and two of his siblings, César Augusto López Descanse and Neira Adrid López Descanse, victims of the FARC guerrilla.

His mother played a transcendental role in his life: through the mother tongue she planted strong foundations of identity in him, and passed on to him the feeling of being Inga and his role in exercising leadership in the community and defending its rights. Robinson obtained his secondary school diploma at the José Antonio Galán educational institution in Puerto Caicedo. Awareness of Indigenous organisation and of the demand for rights was planted by his mother's family in the 1990s, through participation in the mingas of thought for the creation of ACIMVIP; this knowledge grew stronger in his youth, inspired by radio, when in 2002 he answered a call from the Indigenous Organisation of Putumayo (OZIP) to train young people in community media.

With his support, in 2004 ACIMVIP acquired the status of a special Association governed by Decree 1088 of 1993, and he was elected president for the 2004–2006 term. During his presidency he stood out for recovering the traditional knowledge of Inga grandfathers and grandmothers and of other Indigenous Peoples of the municipality of Villagarzón, leading the strategy "Minga for survival, ancestral knowledge and the Unity of Peoples", through which, by means of oral tradition, he compiled life stories and the knowledge of Indigenous wise elders. He was re-elected president for two further terms: 2008–2010 and 2014–2016.

Faced with the intensification of oil exploitation, drug trafficking and violence in the territory, preserving and protecting the ancestral territory became his main objective. During his terms he strengthened the demand for the fundamental right to prior consultation and self-government, through mandates such as the Sumakausangapa, built together with the grandfathers and grandmothers of the Inga People, always guided by traditional medicine. His tenure as president of ACIMVIP left a legacy of the People's own mandates for territorial protection, the strengthening of the uses and customs of the Inga People, and the construction of ACIMVIP's headquarters, a dignified and modern space combined with a sturdy tambo for the mingas of thought.

His greatest achievement was the legal security of the Ancestral Territory Nukanchipa Alpa Amukunapa Wasi, materialised in Agreement No. 113 of 28 January 2020 of the Board of Directors of the National Land Agency, which declared the Indigenous Reserve — the result of more than 13 years of work coordinated with the Indigenous authorities and the community, begun in 2004, and which cost him threats to his physical integrity.

In 2015–2018 he was elected Coordinator of the Human Rights and Peace Area of the National Organisation of the Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC), where he modernised the accounting area, led a transparency campaign, strengthened the Human Rights Commission of Indigenous Peoples (CDHHPI, Decree 1396 of 1996) and strengthened the media as a tool for demanding rights. This coordination played a decisive role in demanding the ethnic approach in the Peace Agreement between the Colombian State and the FARC, signed on 1 December 2016; Robinson travelled to Havana to demand an ethnic chapter that would guarantee the rights of Indigenous Peoples in its implementation, and participated actively in the prior consultation on the components of the System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition (JEP, Truth Commission and UBPD), created by Legislative Act 01 of 2017.

During his time in Bogotá he completed a Transdisciplinary Master's degree in Sustainable Living Systems at the Universidad Externado de Colombia, graduating in 2019 with the thesis "Nukanchipa Iuai — Our Thought: Safeguards for the Ancestral Territory from the Traditional and Spiritual Knowledge Systems of the Inga People of Villagarzón, Putumayo". In 2019 he was elected Climate Change coordinator of COICA, from where he highlighted the role of ancestral knowledge systems in protecting the Amazon and spoke at the World Assembly for the Amazon on the threats to Amazonian Peoples during the pandemic.

Robinson passed away at the age of 36, a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic, on Friday 21 August 2020.

Tribute to Robinson López Descanse, on the ACIMVIP channel. Production: Radio Waira and Mi Jota Producciones.

Robinson López in the memory of ACIMVIP

Photos: ACIMVIP archive.

Leader of the Inga Indigenous Resguardo of Blasiaku, he joined its board in 2022 and served as its governor in 2024 and 2025. From a young age he pushed for the expansion of his resguardo, which the National Land Agency carried out in 2025 through Agreement 526. He devoted his path to our own education and to the defense of the territory, promoted ancestral knowledge and the well-being of his community, and followed and protected traditional medicine. His return to Mother Earth remains bound to the Suma Kausangapa, the Inga People's own mandate that he defended from his community. May his legacy inspire us to protect the territory, the culture and the knowledge for present and future generations.

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Messages of condolence

Grandmother, wise woman and founder of the Nukanchipa Taita Kausadiru Cabildo (Indigenous traditional authority), part of the Inga Indigenous Resguardo of Nukanchipa Alpa Amukunapa Wasi. She passed away at 86 to return to Nukanchi Mama Alpa. Her community remembers her on the territory sign. Read the note

Defender and caretaker of the Amazon. Read the note

Watch the video of the Wasikamas' guard of honour (Facebook)
Video: Yanneth Agudelo, 1 December 2023.

Governor of the San Miguel de la Castellana Reserve in 2022. His community remembers him on the territory's billboard.