Nina Pacari (Kichwa nina "fire", paqariy "to appear, dawn"), born as MarÃa Estela Vega Conejo (born 9 October 1961 in Cotacachi, Imbabura) is a Kichwa politician, lawyer and indigenous leader from Ecuador.
Nina Pacari studied jurisprudence at the Central University of Ecuador in Quito, where she got to know other indigenous students and began to fight for indigenous rights and the defense of the Kichwa language.
At the age of 24 she changed her Spanish name officially to the Kichwa Nina Pacari.
Nina Pacari worked as a lawyer for the Federación de los pueblos Kichwa de la Sierra Norte del Ecuador (FICI), an organization in Imbabura which is now member of ECUARUNARI.
After that she supported Kichwa communities as lawyer in the Chimborazo Province.
In 1989 she became a legal adviser of the indigenous confederation CONAIE, founded in 1986.
In the uprising of 1990 she supported indigenous communities in Chimborazo and participated in the negotiations with the government.