Bárbara Muelas

Bárbara Muelas Hurtado (born 1945) is a Misak Colombian academic, linguist, translator and Namtrik language activist. In 2024 became the first indigenous woman to be appointed to the Colombian Academy of Language. Muelas has translated the ethnic chapter of the Colombian Constitution of 1991 into Namtrik.

Early life and education Muelas was born in the Misak community of Silvia, Cauca, Colombia in 1945, as the daughter of land laborers. Her brother is Lorenzo Muelas and her sister Jacinta was once arrested for defending their territory. Despite not being allowed to study at the school of Silvia, Muelas was able to study, with difficulty, for her high school diploma and was one of the first Misak and indigenous women to receive a degree at the University of Valle, where she studied linguistics.

Once the Colombian Constitution of 1991 was finalized, Muelas received a call from President César Gaviria entrusting her, along with seven other representatives of other Colombian indigenous peoples, with the translation of the ethnic chapter of the Constitution into Namtrik. The work had to be completed in ten months, and the main challenge was translating technical concepts into language that was easily understandable to the indigenous community. In fact, together with teachers and the Cabildo, Muelas had to create concepts that did not exist in the Namtrik language, such as "mining" and "state".

On 10 December 2024 Muelas was appointed to the Colombian Academy of Language, becoming the first indigenous woman ever to be appointed to the Academy. She was sworn in on 27 July 2025 with the speech “Namtrik and Spanish: parallel times, territories in dialogue".