Francia Márquez. Photo: Fredy Builes/Getty Images
Francia Márquez is set to become Colombia's first Black vice president after she and leftist Gustavo Petro won Sunday's runoff election.
Why it matters: The country's Afro Colombian population is large but has been historically marginalized.
- Afro Colombians “are overrepresented in the numbers of forcibly displaced people and victims of violence” from the decades-old conflict in the country, Eduardo Restrepo, an anthropologist at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, told Axios ahead of Sunday's election.
What to know: Márquez is a lawyer and longtime activist and winner of the Goldman Prize, a prestigious recognition in environmentalism.
- Marelen Castillo, the running mate of runner-up Rodolfo Hernández, also identifies as Afro Colombian.
Background: About one in 10 Colombians identify as Black, though that number could be higher because of a suspected census undercount.
- Academics say some people don't identify as Black because of a long history of discrimination stemming from colonial times.
What they’re saying: The women's candidacies inspired a lot of racist and classist reactions due to "this idea inherited from colonial times that some people are meant to govern and others to be governed," Restrepo said.
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Editor's note: This story and headline have been updated with results from Sunday's election.