Dedicated to Helping Native Peoples of the Americas
Board of Directors
Roberto Eligio Alfaro (Director)
Roberto Eligio Alfaro is a descendent of El Salvador's Nonualco or Nahuat Indigenous people. Roberto formerly worked as a Field Representative for Senator Carole Migden and has completed his Master's Degree in Education Administration from San Francisco State University (SFSU). He has worked as a teaching assistant for several American Indian Studies courses at SFSU. He was also on the committee that developed the mission of the Richard Oaks Multicultural Center at SFSU. Roberto has been a member of TNIC since 2003, and was recently given the authority from elders in El Salvador to be a Tribal Advocate for the Lenca Community of Guatajiagua and the Nahuat community of Maquilishuat.
Vanessa Yava, (Secretary)
is a middle school teacher with six years experience teaching and mentoring young children. She has earned an award for excellence in raising proficiency levels of eighth grade students in science at her current assignment in the Pittsburg Unified School District. She is an accomplished artist in painting and drawing and is currently working on illustrations for Native American children’s books. Vanessa is an enrolled member of the Dineh (Navajo) nation, Hopi, and Tewa people and grew up as part of the Bay Area Native American community dancing fancy shawl style at pow wows and teaching young ladies pow wow dance and etiquette at the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland, CA. Vanessa advocates for bridging cultures of northern and southern indigenous people. She has visited Indian communities in El Salvador in January of 2006 in an effort to share with and learn from the Lenca, Nahuat, and Maya communities.
J. David Escobar (Cultural Director)
David Escobar was born in El Salvador or the Lenca-Poton Indian nation. He grew up in the Mission and Excelsior Districts of San Francisco, California. David has a long history of advocating for multi-ethnic communities and mobilizing people to speak out for their rights. David's accomplishments include: working for the San Francisco Unified School District as a Student Advisor; working as a gang counselor for the Real Alternatives Program; establishing the first Spanish language and bilingual drug and alcohol support groups in the Marin County Jail while working for Bay Area Community Resources. He became a parole/probation officer with the county of Marin where he helped to establish the first Latino Peace Officers Association. Currently, as an Administrative Aide to Marin County Supervisor Steven Kinsey, he manages special projects for the Fourth District. Assemblyman Joe Nation appointed David as a Delegate to the Democratic Party. He is currently a member of the Democratic Party's Native American Caucus and Latino Caucus. He earned an Associate of Science Degree in criminology from City College of San Francisco, a Bachelor's Degree from New College of California, and is currently attaining a Master's Degree in Leadership from St. Mary's College in Moraga California. David is a founding member of TNIC. He was recently appointed by the Lenca Nation as Cultural Officer for the State of California.
Robin Maria DeLugan, PhD (Member)
Robin Maria DeLugan is a cultural anthropologist specializing in the historical and contemporary formation of national societies in the Americas. As a mixed race Native American (Cherokee/Shawnee/Lenape), her interest in the relationship of Indigenous peoples and the nation-state is both personal and academic. From 1992-2004, she conducted extensive fieldwork in El Salvador around processes of post-civil war nation building. As the research focused on the status of Native peoples, she was allowed the privilege to develop personal ties with various Indigenous communities in El Salvador. Currently she is a UC President's Post-doctoral Scholar in the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of California, Berkeley where her research examines the impact of immigration and transnationalism on national societies and indigenous communities in the Americas. Robin has been a member of TNIC since 2000 and is a Tribal Advocate for the Lenca Community of Guatajiagua and the Nahuat community of Maquilishuat.
Lorena Montoya (Member)
Lorena was born in El Salvador and grew up in San Francisco's Mission District. She earned her Bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and went on to earn a Master's degree from Columbia University. She has been teaching elementary school for the past 10 years, five of which were in Spanish dual immersion inner city schools. Her continued work and education in and about the native community includes: being a traditional Mexica dancer for over 10 years, being a runner and organizer for the Peace and Dignity Journeys, and a new member of TNIC. She is currently working to learn more about her own Lenca roots.
Santos Adolfo Zetino (Honorary Member in El Salvador)
Santos Zetino is a Nahuat Indian. He is the Chairman of the Maquilishuat Tribal Council in Sonsonate, El Salvador. He is also a survivor of the 1983 Las Hojas Massacre where 74 Nahuat people were killed by the Salvadoran military forces. Santos has been a member of our board since 2003. He is a spiritual advisor to Three Nations Indian Circle.
Atzintli Mazatl
Atzintli is from the Lanka nation in El Salvador. He is a traditional ceremonial dancer and teacher. Atzintli is a new board member to TNIC. He was born in the capital of San Salvador. His family left El Salvador to escape war and established themselves in San Francisco. Atzintli is dedicated to empowering the youth and the community through education and native culture. He has volunteered for educational programs throughout the Bay area. Currently, Atzintli is teaching at risk youth at Harder Elementary and helping to run the Danza Mexica group Kiaketzalli.
Consuelo Roque (Honorary Member in El Salvador)
For many years, Consuelo Roque has worked tirelessly on behalf of Indigenous people in El Salvador. While a faculty member in the Department of Letters at the Universidad de El Salvador, she collaborated with members of the Nahuat, Lenca, and Cacaopera communities to produce guides to facilitate teaching Indigenous languages. She has served as an advisor to a number of Indigenous political organizations in El Salvador.
