Who is Francia Marquez?
Born into a poor family in Cauca, Márquez became a single mother at 16, fled her homeland threatened with death, cleaned houses to survive and studied law before making her way into politics.
In 2019 they wanted to kill her with grenades and rifle bursts for defending the water of her community, in a region where armed groups impose their law, financed by drug trafficking and illegal mining.
A year earlier, he had received the Goldman Prize, also known as the Nobel Prize for the environment.
Márquez became known in this campaign with a feminist, environmentalist and leftist discourse and for her proposal to “live tasty”, a current of Afro peoples that defends peace and harmony with nature.
“We women are going to eradicate the patriarchy of our country, we are going for the rights of the diverse LGBTIQ+ community, we are going for the rights of our mother earth, of the big house,” she announced during her speech.
In a country where violence breaks out from time to time despite the peace agreement signed with the dissolved FARC guerrilla in 2016, Márquez opted for reconciliation.
We are going “to reconcile this nation, we are going for peace decisively, without fear, with love and with joy, we are going for dignity, for social justice,” he launched before Petro gave his victory speech.