the vice president France Marquez won two intense legal battles in the last few hours. The first once morest popular music singer Maureen Belky Ramírez, better known as Marbelle. And the second once morest Humberto “Papo” Amín, a Bogota councilor from the Democratic Center. The lawsuits not only have a background of stigmatization, but also of racism.
In the presidential campaign that stirred public opinion in the first half of this year, Marbelle made multiple comments once morest the current vice president. She linked her to guerrilla groups and made racist remarks comparing her to animals.
Despite the offenses, it was not the legal team of Francia Márquez that He filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutorbut by third parties such as the president of the Senate, Roy Barreras, and the Racial Justice Collective. The lawsuit went to conciliation and Marbelle agreed to rectify in two terms.
“I publicly apologize to Francia Márquez for having expressed my opinion inappropriately, caricaturing her and ridiculing her image, considering this as racism,” the singer wrote.
However, the conciliation did not satisfy some groups of defenders of the rights of ethnic minorities.
“Crimes associated with issues of racial hatred and harassment, which was what Marbelle did, are not susceptible to conciliation,” said Ali Bantú Ashanti, director of the Racial Justice Collective. “This requires a comprehensive reparation, not only in favor of the vice president, but also a symbolic reparation for the Afro population and all the victims of hate in the country,” the lawyer concluded.
This newspaper contacted the lawyer who has defended the vice president in these processes, Carlos Hernán Escobar, to ask why they decided to reach a conciliation with Marbelle, if it was regarding racist acts committed by the singer.
Escobar explained that the Prosecutor’s Office decided to classify the events that Marbelle was accused of as crimes once morest the moral integrity of Márquez. Therefore, it was possible to reconcile.
“I want to add that the vice president and I recognize that there was hate speech here,” Escobar said, noting that for this reason they asked Marbelle to include the entire Afro community in her public apologies.
In the case of councilman Amin, meanwhile, the fight was not over racist statements, but over statements in which he falsely accused the vice president of being linked to illegal armed groups.
“After reaching an agreement, the result of a conciliation before the Attorney General’s Office, I clarify as I had previously said, that Francia Márquez has no ties to the ELN,” Amín declared.
open fights
After the political figure of Francia Márquez gained relevance, he began to reap opponents who in some cases criticized him for legal trouble.
One of them was the today representative to the Chamber for the Afro constituency, Miguel Polo Polo, who has been very close to the awnings of the Democratic Center. Polo Polo had accused the vice president of being a “fraudster” without evidence.
Escobar pointed out that there is already a conciliation appointment before the Investigation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice to resolve this lawsuit.
There are also others who have already rectified in the past, such as the influencer Ornela Cabezas, who had lied saying that she was the daughter of the vice president and the senator of the Democratic Center, Gabriel Vallejo. However, some cases still do not reach a conciliation, such as that of the journalist Gustavo Rugeles, with whom Márquez did not reach an agreement in the conciliation hearing.
Likewise, there were others who were saved from rectifying, such as the former president of the Senate, Juan Diego Gómez. He had also pointed out to the vice president alleged links with armed groups. However, the complaint once morest him was inadmissible by the Supreme Court, on the grounds that there was an inviolability of opinions in the framework of a political control debate.
