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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Tiago Rogero in Bogotá

Colombia’s history-making VP blames racism for four years of frustration

Francia Márquez standing in a doorway looking to her right
Francia Márquez, vice-president of Colombia, poses at the entrance of the vice-presidential residence in Bogotá. Photograph: Fernanda Pineda/The Guardian

In the historic centre of Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, a gallery of portraits at the vice-president’s official residence displays the faces of all former vice-presidents since the country became a republic in 1886. All of them are white.

When the current president and vice-president leave office in August, the wall will include an Afro-Colombian face for the first time: Francia Márquez, 44, the first Black woman to become vice-president in a country where at least 10% of the population is Afro-descendant.

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