With the Election of Its First Afro-Descendant Vice President, Costa Rica Takes a Step Forward in th
With the Election of Its First Afro-Descendant Vice President, Costa Rica Takes a Step Forward in the Fight Against Racism
Translation posted 8 April 2018 19:58 GMT
The final weeks before the Costa Rican presidential elections kept many on the edge of their seats. In the second round of votes there were two candidates with a gulf of differences: Carlos Alvarado of the Citizen Action Party (a party already in power) and Fabricio Alvarado of the National Restoration Party.
Of the two candidates, Fabricio Alvarado alarmed human rights activists and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) community by rejecting to defend the rights of sexual and gender minorities and promising a government that would support the “fundamental values of Costa Rica” which included a traditional vision of the family and the ideals of evangelical Christianity.
However, Carlos Alvarado came out on top. His victory caused celebrations that extended beyond Costa Rica because his vice presidential running mate was Epsy Campbell Barr, an economist by profession and activist for the rights of the Afro-descendant people.
That means Campbell Barr is now the first Afro-descendant woman vice president in not only Costa Rica, but the Americas.
More:
https://globalvoices.org/2018/04/08/with-the-election-of-its-first-afro-descendant-vice-president-costa-rica-takes-a-step-forward-in-the-fight-against-racism/
