Riquelme is affiliated with the Center for Research and Defense of the South (CIDSUR, Spanish: Centro De Investigación Y Defensa Del Sur), an organization committed to defending the rights of indigenous Chileans.

Riquelme has argued that the Chilean state has worked to criminalize indigenous activism during the Mapuche conflict through systemic persecution of activists like Francisca Linconao.

[4] In 2011, Riquelme was sentenced to 21 days in prison with conditional remission over allegations she had provided legal defense to Mapuche activists without having attained a law degree.

[9] On 10 July 2018, an incident occurred in Riquelme's apartment in Temuco, Araucanía Region, in which two men pointed green laser beams through the window in what is believed to have been an effort to intimidate her.

[11] Riquelme lives with her daughter, who was present during the 2018 incident in which police officers pointed laser beams through her window, in Temuco, Araucanía Region.