Feliciano is one of the nine children of Claudio Valencia and Fidelina Medina. He was born in Santander de Quilichao, Cauca, and spent his childhood and teenage years picking coffee and cotton. He wears shirts embroidered by his wife and is one of the most important and recognized Nasa leaders, an indigenous group living in the Andean zone of Cauca, in southwestern Colombia. In 2004, he received the National Peace Prize for being an example of peaceful resistance to the armed conflict. Since 2018, Valencia has been a senator for the Alternative Indigenous and Social Movement, MAIS in Spanish.
"I feel good when they call me an Indian," says Valencia. "Many have used it to try to insult me, but it is actually an honor for me. Since I started my work as an indigenous leader, I got used to being called a guerrillero [guerilla member]."
