January 10, 2023
Francia Marquez, photo: Bill Hackwell
Colombia’s vice president, Francia Marquez, said today that her security detail discovered an explosive device on a road she frequently travels on, in what she described as a new attempt on her life.
Marquez, a former domestic worker and environmental activist, is Colombia’s first black female vice president after Gustavo Petro took office in August as the first leftist president in the South American country’s history.
“Members of my security team found a device with more than 7 kilos of explosive material on the road leading to my family residence in the village of Yolombó, in Suárez, Cauca. It was destroyed in a controlled manner by anti-explosives personnel,” said the vice president in her Twitter account.
“The report attached evidence that it was a new attempt on my life. However, we will not stop working, day after day, until we reach the #PazTotal that Colombia dreams of and needs. We will not desist until in every territory it is possible to live in true harmony,” she added.
The 41-year-old vice president is originally from the municipality of Suarez, a rural area of the department of Cauca, in the southwest of the country, where around 80% of the population lives in some form of poverty.
This region of the South American country of 50 million inhabitants is plagued by violence and the presence of National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas, dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and criminal gangs linked to drug trafficking and illegal mining.
Marquez is a celebrated environmental activist whose opposition to gold mining in her hometown led her to win the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 2018, in addition to receiving death threats from illegal armed groups.
In addition to serving as Petro’s vice president, Marquez will lead the new Ministry of Equality and Equity that will build on her core ideas of improving women’s rights and helping the poor access health and education.
Colombia faces a nearly six-decade armed conflict that has left at least 450,000 dead and millions displaced.
Source: Cubadebate