Ailton Alves Lacerda Krenak (Vale do Rio Doce, Minas Gerais, 1954) is a Brazilian writer, journalist, philosopher and indigenous movement leader of Krenak ethnicity. He was forcibly separated from his people, of which only 130 individuals are left (down from 5,000 at the beginning of the 20th century), at age 9. When he was 17, he and his family migrated to the state of Paraná, where he was alphabetised and became a printing specialist and journalist. Krenak functioned as a representative of indigenous peoples at the debates on the 1988 Brazilian Constitution, where he covered himself in ritual face painting during a speech.