Former Regional representative for the Amazon (2018-2023)
Based in Peru, Wrays has been Pamuk or President of the Territorial Autonomous Government of the Wampis Nation since November 2015. He studied at the Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain), where he was granted the title of “University Expert in Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights, Governance and International Cooperation”. His long history of leadership began at the age of 24 in his own Wampis community in the Amazon basin of Peru, serving as Regidor of the District Municipality of Río Santiago from 1987 to 1989. After that, he wasPresident of the Aguaruna and Huambisa Council between 1991 and 1996; National Secretary of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the Peruvian Amazon (AIDESEP) from 1997 to 2002; President of the Special Commission for the Supervision of Institutional Management of the Regional Government of Amazonas in 2003 and 2006; Regional Councilor of Amazonas for the Province of Condorcanqui from 2003 to 2006; and President of the Commission of Environment and Environmental Management of the Regional Government of Amazonas in 2004 and 2005. His experience is recognized in the international arena as well: he has held the Indigenous Chair of the Intercultural Indigenous University of Latin America and the Caribbean, and has been a member of the Bi-national Technical Team for Development and Border Integration between Peru and Ecuador. With the backing of the Council of Wise Men, the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation upholds the tenacious defence of its ancestral territory — including its rivers, which have been damaged, and remain under assault, by illegal mining. Under the leadership of Wrays, the Wampis joined the ICCA Consortium in 2017.
