Soy Porque Somos (SPS ; ) is a Colombian

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

political party of

Afro-Colombian Afro-Colombians (), also known as Black Colombians (), are Colombians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Colombia has one of the largest African diaspora, Afro-descendant populations in South America, with government ...

origin founded on 21 July 2021. It is one of the movements that make up the Historic Pact, a political coalition that led

Gustavo Petro Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego (; born 19 April 1960) is a Colombian politician who is the 34th and current president of Colombia since 2022. Upon inauguration, he became the Pink tide, first left-wing president in the History of Colombia, recen ...

to the presidency. The

Vice President of Colombia The vice president of Colombia (Vice president of the Republic) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the Government of Colombia, national government, after the president of Colombia, and ranks first in the Colombian presiden ...

Francia Márquez Francia Elena Márquez Mina (born 1 December 1981) is a Colombia, Colombian human-rights and environmental activist, feminist, lawyer and politician who is the 13th and current Vice President of Colombia since 2022. She was born in Yolombó (vill ...

is the founder and leader of the movement. This movement is inspired by the

ubuntu philosophy Ubuntu (; meaning in some Bantu languages, such as Zulu language, Zulu) describes a set of closely related Bantu African-origin value systems that emphasize the interconnectedness of individuals with their surrounding societal and physical world ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n origin and promotes ideas such as:

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

racial Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of va ...

and

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has gene ...

, the protection of

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

, among others.

History

Historic Pact and presidential candidacy of Francia Márquez

On July 21, 2021, in a public act in the municipality of Santander de Quilichao, the Soy Porque Somos movement is officially launched, with the aim of supporting the presidential candidacy of

, and the movement's participation in the coalition is also announced. led by

, the Historic Pact. Márquez would participate in the inter-party consultation of the coalition, in which the winner would be the only presidential candidate of the Pact, it was also suggested that the second most voted candidacy be the vice-presidential formula, although this was not formally agreed. The movement needed to collect signatures to register its presidential candidacy, however the signatures obtained were insufficient, so the movement had to seek the endorsement of another political group belonging to the Historical Pact that had legal status before the National Electoral Council. Initially they obtained the endorsement of the Indigenous Authorities of Colombia party and later that of the Alternative Democratic Pole. In January 2022, during the campaign for the legislative elections in March, the movement was in talks about whether or not it should continue within the Historic Pact due to the failure of the coalition to include them in the first 20 places of the closed list for the Senate. The community decided to remain in the coalition, however the two candidates who were placed in an unfavorable position, Carlos Reyes and María Vicenta Moreno, resigned from the list. The movement presented three candidates to the Chamber of Representatives for the Special Constituency of Black Communities, these were Ali Bantú Ashanti, Ariel Rossebel Palacios and Idalmy Minota Terán, none were elected.

Vice-presidential candidacy and presidential election

During the legislative elections, the inter-party consultations of the coalitions of the Historical Pact, Hope Center Coalition and Team for Colombia were held simultaneously. Francia Márquez achieved second place in the coalition consultation behind Gustavo Petro and she was considered the surprise of the elections by obtaining more than 700 thousand votes. The presidential elections were held on 29 May 2022 where they obtained the first voting place with more than 8 million 500 thousand votes, giving them the step to the second electoral round that was held on 19 June. Finally, with more than 11 million votes, they defeated the ticket of Rodolfo Hernández and Marelen Castillo in the ballot. Francia Márquez was sworn in as vice president on 7 August 2022.

Representation in government

During the junction between the incoming Government of Gustavo Petro and the outgoing Government of Iván Duque, the movement was represented in the general committee by Aurora Vergara, an academic who is director of the Center for Afrodiasporic Studies (CEAF) and in the junction of the area of «Poblaciones» through Clemencia Carabalí, from Cauca, and Graybern Livingston Forbes, a

Raizal The Raizal are a Black Colombian ethnic group from the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, off Colombia's Caribbean coast. They are not defined by race but are labeled by the Colombian authorities as one of the Afro-Co ...

from San Andrés. Likewise, the academic Irene Vélez Torres from the

University of Valle The University of Valle (), also called Univalle, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university based primarily in the city of Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. It is the largest higher education institution by student populatio ...

, very close to Francia Márquez and the Soy Because We Are movement, was appointed to join the Science team. A debate was generated due to the rumor of the possible appointment of the academic to occupy the position of Minister of Science and Technology due to the approach of the movement and Vélez Torres on "hegemonic science", a position that was criticized by some scientists such as Moisés Wasserman. Finally, Irene Vélez Torres was appointed as the new Minister of Mines and Energy.

References

{{Authority control Colombian people of African descent Political movements in Colombia Political parties established in 2021 Left-wing parties in Colombia

History

Historic Pact and presidential candidacy of Francia Márquez

Vice-presidential candidacy and presidential election

Representation in government

See also

References