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A 62-year-old woman who made racist remarks about Colombia’s first Black Vice President Francia Márquez during an anti-government demonstration last year was found guilty of discrimination and harassment on Monday.
Luz Fabiola Rubiano, who pled guilty to the allegations, was caught on video telling a journalist, “apes are now ruling us… “Francia Márquez is an ape,” what education can Black people have? They steal, attack and kill.”
Márquez was elected Colombia’s vice president on June 19, 2022, and making history as the first person of African descent to hold the nation’s office and has faced a barrage of racist backlash.
Discriminatory behavior in Colombia is punishable by a maximum three-year jail sentence, though judges may substitute parole or home detention for the mandatory minimum.
According to an Aljazeera report, Racism against Black people is rampant in Columbia. In 2015, mobs attacked and killed several Afro-Columbians, and some leaders of organizations advocating for their rights were assassinated.
In January 2022, Marquez wrote a letter to US Vice President Kamala Harris denouncing structural racism and the ongoing assassinations of community leaders in Columbia an requested Harris’ involvement to bring inclusive people in Columbia.
Márquez is a prolific civil rights fighter in Columbia.
Márquez says she was raised on the oral history of her ancestors trying to prevent foreigners from stealing their property.
In 2014 she received the coveted Goldman Environmental Prize for leading a convoy of 80 women on a 10-day, 350-mile march to Bogotá to protest illegal gold mining in her town.
The 41-year-old lawyer, single mother, and former housekeeper was born in El Cauca, which has the highest Black population in the nation. She now uses her position to defend the rights of underrepresented groups at home and build up support for Africana people’s rising political influence overseas.
She occasionally references the African American civil rights movement in her remarks, including Sojourner Truth and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Rubiano, a small business owner, the woman who called Márquez an ape, will know her fate on May 30, the date scheduled for her sentencing.
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