Feliciano Reyna Ganteaume

Feliciano Reyna

Advisory Council

Bachelor of Architecture, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 1980

In October 1995, Feliciano founded Acción Solidaria on HIV/Aids, a non-profit Civil Society Organization, and since then has been its Executive President. Between 1998 and 2003, Feliciano acted as HIV/Aids Service Organizations Representative before the Technical Group on HIV/Aids of the United Nations Agencies in Venezuela.

Between June 2000 and December 2014, wrote the weekly column “Alerta VIH”, in the daily El Universal.

In 2000, Acción Solidaria became a member of Sinergia, Venezuelan Association of Civil Society Organizations, which presently groups 54 cross-sector organizations, from the areas of social development to human rights. Between 2005 and 2015, Feliciano acted as President of Sinergia´s Board, particularly strengthening the organization’s international agenda in the promotion and defense of the space of civil society in Venezuela.

In 2002 was elected as a Fellow of Ashoka, a global network of social entrepreneurs.

In 2003, together with other human rights advocates, Feliciano founded CODEVIDA, Coalition of Venezuelan organizations for the rights to health and to life, which defends the rights of people affected by chronic health conditions such as hemophilia, breast cancer, transplants, leukemia, lymphomas, and HIV.

In 2006, Acción Solidaria received the first edition of the Red Ribbon Award, given by UNAIDS and other global institutions and governments, during the XVI International Aids Conference, in Toronto, Canada, as one of the best 25 community responses among 500 projects from over 100 countries.

Between 2009 and 2015, Feliciano served as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Center for not-for-profit Law (ICNL) and presently remains as a member of it’s Advisory Board. Between 2010 and 2016, Feliciano has served on the Board of Directors of CIVICUS, Global Alliance for Citizen Participation.

In 2010, founded CIVILIS Human Rights, dedicated to monitoring and documenting the situation of human rights in Venezuela, from a comprehensive perspective, as well as to the promotion and defense of civil society rights, with an emphasis on freedom of association and assembly and the right to participation in public affairs.

In 2010, Feliciano received the second edition of the Human Rights Award, given every year by the Center for Peace and Human Rights of Venezuela´s Central University and the Canadian Embassy in Venezuela.

Since 2006, has participated in hearings of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, as well as in conferences related to civil society rights, including panels at the United Nations in Geneva, and global and regional consultations, with the Un special rapporteurs on Freedom of Association and Assembly, on Freedom of Expression and on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders.

Twitter: @fjreyna