For the first time in the history of Colombia, the left, supported by the former mayor of Bogota, Gustavo Petro, could win the presidential election on May 29. In the event of victory, Francia Marquez, an Afro-Colombian figure in the defense of human rights and the environment, would become vice-president. A small revolution in this country torn by social inequalities and historically governed by conservatives.
In recent weeks, at every public appearance, Francia Marquez has appeared dressed in brightly colored outfits with traditional patterns of Afro-Colombian clothing. Candidate for the vice-presidency of Colombia during the presidential election, she always chants the same message: « The time has come to move from resistance to power! »
In a few months, this Afro-Colombian has managed to shake up Colombian political life. In a country historically governed by conservatives, she succeeded in imposing in the electoral campaign themes hitherto absent from the debate: racism and social inequalities. To the point of becoming, for a new generation of voters, the symbol of change.
This wind of change could well and truly materialize. A few days before the election, the left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro, ex-guerrilla and former mayor of Bogota, who chose Francia Marquez as his running mate, is the favorite. According to the latest polls relayed by AFP, he is credited with 41% of the vote.
Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez oppose the right-wing candidate Federico Gutierrez, a former mayor of Medellin, who is hovering around 27% of the voting intentions. They are now seriously hounded by an independent candidate, the outsider Rodolfo Hernandez after the Franco-Colombian candidate Ingrid Betancourt joined him on Friday.
An Afro-Colombian rights activist
However, nothing predestined Francia Marquez to a political career. Born in 1981 in a small village in the Cauca region, in the southwest of the country, she grew up alone with her mother. Pregnant at 16 with her first child, she was first forced to work in a gold mine, a few kilometers from her home, to support her family, before being hired as a maid.
But for some people, activism is written in the genes. And Francia Marquez is one of them. When she was barely 15, in 1996, she learned that a multinational wanted to launch a project to extend a dam located on the region’s main river, the Ovejas, which would greatly impact the life of her community.
Installed on its banks since the XVIIe century, the Afro-Colombian community has been practicing agriculture and artisanal mining there for generations, their main sources of income.
A 500 km march for the environment
This moment marks the beginning of his long fight in defense of the rights of Afro-Colombian communities and for the preservation of their lands. For twenty years, it has fought tirelessly against the multinationals that exploit the surroundings of the Ovejas river, sometimes forcing the populations to leave the place.
It was not until 2014 that Francia Marquez became known to the general public. In his sights, this time, the illegal miners who settle along the river, digging at all costs to find gold and, above all, using abundant mercury – a product which makes it possible to separate the water, but which also has the effect of contaminating the water and destroying biodiversity. To fight against the phenomenon, Francia Marquez organizes the « march of the turbans ». 80 women come together to reach Bogotá from Cauca, ie 10 days and about 500 km of walking. On the spot, the group still militates for nearly twenty days before the Ministry of the Interior. The activist finally wins her case: the government undertakes to destroy all illegal exploitations around the river.
Since then, Francia Marquez, now a law graduate, has multiplied forums, conferences in universities, speeches in front of political figures or within NGOs. In 2018, his fight earned him the Goldman Prize, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for the environment. The following year, she appeared in the ranking of the 100 most influential women in the world of the BBC.
« I am one of those who raise their voices to stop the destruction of rivers, forests and moors. Of those who dream that one day human beings will change the economic model of death, to make way for the construction of ‘a model that guarantees life,’ she wrote on her website.
“Our governments have turned their backs on the people”
It was finally in 2020 that she decided to enter politics. And the activist does not hide her ambition: “I want to be a candidate for this country. I want people to be free and dignified. I want our territories to be places of life », she wrote in a tweet. The same year, she launched her movement « Soy porque somos » (« I am because we are », Editor’s note). Two years later, in March 2022, she ran for the presidential primaries of the left-wing party, the « Historical Pact » party. She created a surprise by reaching third place, prompting Gustavo Petro to choose her as running mate.
Today, she makes her fight for the preservation of Afro-Colombian lands the central argument of her political campaign, constantly recalling her history and her origins. « I’m an Afro-Colombian woman, a single mother of two who gave birth to her first child when she was 16 and did housework to pay the bills. But I’m also an award-winning environmental activist. And above all, a lawyer who could become the first black vice-president of Colombia”, she insists in many meetings.
“Our governments have turned their backs on the people, on justice and on peace,” she denounces. « If they had done their job properly, I wouldn’t be here. »
« Within the population, there has been a lot of popular anger in recent months against the political class, particularly linked to the Covid-19 pandemic », explains Olga Lucia Gonzalez, associate researcher, specialist in Colombia at the Paris-Diderot University. « Francia Marquez comes from civil society and not from the traditional political elite. It is an argument on which she plays, and which goes greatly in her favor. »
« But above all, she is a woman, black, Afro-Colombian and she brings with her themes that until then were totally forgotten, on the relationship to colonialism, sexism, racism », she continues.
Francia Marquez is not the only Afro-Colombian candidate in this presidential election – there are also Caterine Ibargüen and Zenaida Martinez. Together, they want to be the voice of a protest that is rising against double discrimination: that of being a woman and being black. This is reflected in political life: the government has only one black woman and only two are members of Parliament.
Colombia has one of the largest populations of African descendants in Latin America. Official census data indicates that Afro-Colombians represent more than 6.2% of the population. A figure strongly underestimated according to demographers. Yet Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities continue to face disproportionate levels of poverty, violence and land expropriation. According to government figures. About 31% of the Afro-Colombian population lives in poverty, compared to 20% of the national population.
It remains to be seen whether his victory would bring about the change so much hoped for by part of the population. « Already, the victory is far from certain. Gustavo Petro and she will certainly pass the first round but nothing says that they will win in the second », nuance Olga Lucia Gonzalez. « Then political life will always be led by the same elite. It can inject good momentum. I doubt that will be enough. »
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