Francia Márquez's strong response to the racist comments of Marbelle and Bolivar

This Wednesday, March 30, the environmentalist and vice presidential candidate of Colombia for the Historical Pact, Francia Márquez, responded forcefully to the racist messages she has been the victim of in recent days amid the political campaign ahead of the first presidential round.

In the midst of the debate on vice-presidential formulas, organized by the national media El Tiempo y Semana, the Afro-Colombian activist referred to the discriminatory comments and attacks made against her by popular music singer Marbelle, who compared her to the fictional character in the classic Hollywood film 'King Kong', and the racist message of Senator Gustavo Bolívar, with which he intended to defend it.

“Racism is something that hurts and this is not just for Marbelle and Bolivar, it's for all humanity. Eradicating racism is not a responsibility of the population that has been racialized, as eradicating patriarchy and machismo is not the responsibility of us women either. This is a responsibility that we must assume as a society,” said vice-presidential candidate Francia Márquez.

In this regard, he indicated that he sent an “ancestral embrace” to Marbelle, which he had learned from his grandmother, so that she would “heal” from a scourge that she assured had the capacity to “damage, destroy and kill”, and explained that in Colombia there has always been structural racism that comes from the State and which has prevented the guarantees and decent opportunities for Afro-descendant communities.

He also pointed out that the historical debt on this issue must be based on the social rule of law recognizing that there is a gap of inequality and inequality in areas such as “health, education, access to drinking water and dignity”, and has even had a presence in the Colombian armed conflict, in which black women have been victims of racial violence.

“Why does DANE tell us that the average life expectancy of women of African descent in Colombia is five years less than the average life expectancy of the rest of Colombian society. This shows structural racism, which is a consequence of slavery and existing colonialism. They are not going to tell me when they define national budgets why do they make development plans for ethnic, Afro-descendant and indigenous communities and that investment does not reach those territories? ”, said the winner of the Goldman Prize.

For his part, the former Minister of Environment and Formula of Sergio Fajardo to the presidency, Luis Gilberto Murillo, assured that in the current campaign a range of cultural diversity was evident, which showed that steps were being taken towards the construction of a more inclusive country, however, he acknowledged that there were difficulties in overcoming those historical racial barriers that were visible in institutions such as the Army.

For his part, Rodrigo Lara, who is Federico Gutiérrez's vice-presidential formula, assured that racism has been evident in the country and even in the political campaign, which has been demonstrated in the levels of exclusion and poverty that occur in the country, especially in the most remote regions of the country “there is a debt which all Colombians must be able to build”.

“We are going through a few moments of post-truth, of populism and focusing on problems of racism in such a particular diverse Colombia, having been a soldier and having toured the country, I would believe that since the 1851 decision determining the freedom of slaves are factors that are exploited at the moment. I think this campaign doesn't have racism. My personal experience, with friends who shared military life with me, I never felt this perspective of racism, although I know the cultural and regional problems”, said Colonel José Luis Esparza, Ingrid Betancourt's formula.

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