(Bloomberg) — Colombian presidential front-runner Gustavo Petro named an Afro-Colombian environmental activist and lawyer, Francia Marquez, as his running mate ahead of the May 29 election.
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Marquez, 39, who comes from a war-torn region in western Colombia, got more than 780,000 votes in primaries this month, which even beat the tally of Sergio Fajardo, a former mayor of Medellin who is one of Petro’s main rivals for the presidency. Petro made the announcement alongside Marquez at an event in Bogota.
Like millions of Colombians, Marquez was displaced by armed groups. Her opposition to illegal gold projects in her home town in Cauca province earned her the enmity of the mafias who control the business, and led to threats which forced her to flee.
In 2018, Marquez was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work in fighting illegal mining projects, which poison Colombia’s rivers with mercury, including the Amazon. She led a 560-kilometer (350-mile) march of 80 women to Bogota, which resulted in the removal of all illegal miners and equipment from her community, according to the prize committee.
Petro is leading in all major opinion polls, and two recent surveys show that he would beat any of his rivals in a possible runoff in June.
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