She became an activist for the first time at the age of 13, when the construction of a dam threatened her community. An unmarried mother, she had her first child at the age of just 16, left her place as she was receiving threats and went to another area to work while studying Law
When the Gustavo Petro made history as Colombia ‘s first left – elected president, as did Franca Brands.
She did the first black Colombian and the country ‘s second female vice president since Martha Lucia Ramires.
In fact, Markes came second in votes, after Petros, in the qualifying elections of their alliance in March, securing 783,160 votes.
Born 40 years ago to a poor family in the province of Kaukaplagued by violence linked to armed groups fighting for control of drug trafficking and the gold mining county, Brands reached the 2019 list of the BBC’s 100 Most Important Women.
This poor villager (in the Caucasus about 80% of the population lives in poverty) is an environmental and anti-gold mining activist in her community, Suarez, and thanks to this work she was awarded the 2018 Goldman Prize. for the Environment after leading a women’s protest march against illegal gold mining across the country.
The Marches were led by 80 women, who covered 560 kilometers to the capital Bogota.
According to her CV, she became an activist for the first time at the age of 13, when the construction of a dam threatened her community.
ICYMI: Celebrated environmental activist France Marquez is the first Black woman to serve as Colombia’s vice president https://t.co/qdrIbodijj pic.twitter.com/tRLayjYVws
– Reuters (@Reuters) June 26, 2022
An unmarried mother, she had her first child at the age of just 16, left her place as she was receiving threats and went to another area to work while studying Law. It took her ten years to complete her studies as she often interrupted as she was forced to work to earn money for tuition. Sometimes she worked as a cleaner.
After her studies he returned to her homeland to take an active part in his political life and to defend the rights of the marginalized.
Her rise to the presidency is a result of citizens’ need for change and their demand for socio-environmental issues, FTI Consulting’s Daniela Cuelar told Reuters.
During her campaign she appeared exuberant and impressive, dressed in colorful Afro-Colombian clothes with geometric shapes and large jewelry.
This is how she was dressed in her epic speech in Bogota.
«It is time to move from resistance to power“, Was her pre-election slogan that always accompanied it with a smile and a raised fist.
«After 214 years we have achieved a people’s government, a government for the people, a government of citizens with rosy hands; the government of the invisible ColombiaShe said, celebrating her victory.
He told AFP in March: “We the invisible, we who our human condition and our rights are not recognized in this country, raise our stature asking to change history, to understand political life».
And surrounded by her family she was committed: “Together we will defeat systemic racism in Colombia».
RACISM
Although they make up 10% of Colombia’s population of 50 million, the country’s African-American population is largely under-represented.
Brands promises this community a new hope. And she does not wait until August when she will take office.
In addition to being the country’s vice president, she is expected to take on a new ministry of equality to implement her goals of improving women’s rights and the poor’s access to health and education.
«I come from an area that is historically abandoned“, He wrote on Twitter.
«My job is to guarantee the rights of these excluded and marginalized territories, to guarantee the rights of citizens of African descent and indigenous peoples.“, he said.
Racism is rampant in Colombia and during the election campaign both celebrities and social media users attacked her for her African descent and class.
It has received more than 1,000 racist comments and messages through the press and social media since April, according to the Los Andes University Racist Discrimination Observatory.
GENDER INEQUALITIES
The new vice president is expected to push for the implementation of a recent Supreme Court ruling decriminalizing abortion while focusing on access to the process for indigenous, rural and Afro-Colombian women.
«We women will uproot the patriarchy from our country, let us defend the rights of the LOATKI + community, let us stand for our Mother Earth“, She said in her epic speech.
In a country where elite men hold the most political office, her election marks the growing influence of women and minorities in provincial and conflict-torn areas.
But, as Julia Salver explains in her new book, High-Risk Feminism in Colombia, the demand for justice in the country is a dangerous task, especially for women. Since the signing of peace agreements between the FARC and the Colombian government in 2016, thousands of leaders of the environmental movement and human rights defenders have been assassinated.
Various armed groups are still active and have allegedly killed 59 leaders of social movements since the beginning of the year.
Marquez survived an assassination attempt in 2019. Last month, paramilitary groups – linked to far-right forces – sent her two leaflets with a choice: Stop your campaign or you will die.
That is why she also has 24-hour protection from bodyguards today. Her victory marks an important step in a country that lags behind other Latin American countries in terms of female representation.
Colombia has had a gender quota law since 2011, but it stipulates that only 30% of candidates must be women and only applies in constituencies with more than five seats. In contrast, 11 Latin American countries have relevant laws that require political parties to nominate equal numbers of women and men.
The proportion of women candidates is important as the number of women elected depends on this number. Countries with gender quota laws elect more balanced parliaments, which means that women hold 40% to 50% of the seats.
However, women in Colombia held less than 20% of the seats in the period from 2010 to 2020. In addition, women candidates in the country receive a lower grant for their election campaign.
THE GAMES
However, social movements demanding more rights for people of African descent are sweeping the region. Blacks from Mexico and Brazil are increasingly leading the fight for equal rights.
After all, these women are the ones who pay the most expensive price. In 2018, the murder of Mariele Franco went around the world.
Franco, then 38, an activist who fought for the rights of the poor and against police violence, was a city councilor and openly bisexual and came from the favela Mare, one of the slums in northern Rio de Janeiro, where the problem of violent crime is most acute. She had become a symbol of the struggle of black women in Brazil against racism and police violence.
The car that transported her was sieved by bullets. The war over the assassination of the city councilor focuses on the ammunition used to commit the crime: the Globo television network reported that they belonged to a batch bought by the Brazilian police in 2006.
The government, on the other hand, assured that the bullets that were fired had been stolen years ago by the police. Latin America has the highest number of homicides in the world with human rights defenders and 18% of the victims are women.
Colombian activists and women politicians face gender-based threats, including threats of sexual assault and assault on their families. Researchers describe this widespread phenomenon as “violence against women in politics”, where the perpetrators are not politically motivated, but simply half-hearted. In short, the perpetrators use violence and threats of violence to keep the political arena as male-dominated.
Typical is the phrase used by Marquez when announcing her candidacy, a phrase often used by social movement leaders in Colombia: “If we remain silent, we are killed. If we speak freely, they will kill us. Therefore we can freely express our opinion».
Check out the news feed and stay up to date with the latest news.
