‘She represents me’: the black woman making political history in Colombia

by Joe Parkin Daniels in Santander de Quilichao

Leftwinger Francia Márquez is on course to become the first black female vice-president of a deeply unequal countryGlobal development is supported by

Mayra Fernanda Mejía, a black single mother and rural activist, never really felt that Colombia’s politicians cared about people like her – until now.

She has been threatened with violence for speaking out against the armed groups that plague her community, and each election season she has witnessed light-skinned candidates pass through the war-torn province of Cauca offering food handouts and empty promises of development.

But on Sunday she will cast her vote for Francia Márquez, who is hoping to become the South American country’s first black female vice-president, on the ticket of the leftist presidential frontrunner, Gustavo Petro.

Mejía is convinced that Márquez’s victory would usher in a new, more equitable chapter in a deeply unequal country.

“Francia’s candidacy for women means a before and an after, because she’s a…

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