Francia Márquez Advocates Latin American Unity in Bolivia

Colombia's vice-president-elect, Francia Márquez, met this Monday with her Bolivian counterpart David Choquehuanca as well as with President Luis Arce Catacora. At the same time, she invited to collectively build a united Latin American region in peace and with social justice.

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Márquez, who will be inaugurated with Gustavo Petro next Sunday, expressed that her invitation is to "build collectively for a Colombia in peace, united, diverse; for a Latin American region, the southern region, united, in peace and with social justice."

According to the elected president, her visit to Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina and Chile was to take the first steps to build, in the future, what she called joint agreements to reach unity in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

The vice-president-elect also claimed her origin and recalled that she is part of those excluded peoples and regions, of those "ancestors who were brought from the African continent in conditions of slavery."

She explained, in this sense, that those who were brought from Africa by force "helped to give birth to freedom for America, freedom that has not materialized [because] we are still facing colonialism, racism, patriarchy and the neoliberal model that today has our Mother Earth, the Pachamama, the womb, the big house in agony."

Marquez invited President Luis Arce, his vice-president Choquehuanca and social organizations to accompany them to Petro's inauguration, which will be a historic moment for the Colombian people.

In another moment, within the framework of the celebrations for the 197th anniversary of the Independence of Bolivia, Francia Márquez also participated in an ancestral ceremony in Murillo square, the seat of government.

While commenting on the meeting with the vice-president-elect, Arce said, "We embrace our sister, Francia Márquez, with much affection." According to the Bolivian president, with Marquez in the second magistracy of Colombia, "the winds of the south blow with more strength and strengthen the Patria Grande."

Marquez, who arrived in La Paz on Sunday, ends in Bolivia, the South American tour that took her to Brazil, Chile and Argentina.