Francia Marquez

Francia Marquez (2019)

Francia Márquez (born in Yolombo , Cauca ) is a Colombian environmental activist and civil rights activist.

Life

Márquez grew up as part of the Afro-Colombian cultural community. She is a single mother of two children and is currently studying law at the University of Santiago de Cali .

Act

Marquez first appeared as an activist at the age of 13 when the construction of a dam threatened her community. She used Afro-Colombian music and dance as key elements for her cultural and political expression. As a young woman, Márquez became a local leader who turned to the struggle for the rights of the environment and ancestral land and the incursions of multinational mining companies in the La Toma region . She also taught farmers in her region about sustainable agriculture .

Márquez organized the women of the La Toma region and stopped illegal gold mining on their ancestral land. She put constant pressure on the Colombian government and led a ten-day march of 80 women hundreds of kilometers into the capital of the country. In Bogota, Márquez and the women protested on the streets for 22 days. An agreement was reached at the end of 2014 and by the end of 2016 all illegal miners and equipment were removed from their community's territory.

In 2018 she was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize . She was portrayed on the BBC program 100 Women in 2019.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Francia Márquez. In: Goldman Prize. Goldman Prize, accessed November 4, 2019 . 
2. ↑ BBC 100 Women 2019: Who is on the list this year? BBC , October 16, 2019, accessed November 3, 2019 .