On Sunday, April 1, Carlos Alvarado Quesada was elected President of Costa Rica, but it is his running mate that caught everyone’s eye. Epsy Campbell Barr made history in this election by becoming the first Afro-Costa Rican female to clinch the position.
Quesada and Campbell Barr ran under the Citizens’ Action Party (CAP), which is a left-leaning party that supports progressive ideas. Campbell Barr’s background is as an economist and she actually helped form the CAP in the early 2000’s.
The pair won by considerable margins against their opponent, Fabricio Alvarado, who was an evangelical and more conservative.
While progressive ideas played a big role in Campbell Barr’s platform. Campbell Barr advocated for building up the black and female minorities saying women are the, “driving force of 21st-century Costa Rica.” She also reached out to her fellow Afro-Latin people during the campaign fighting, “for an inclusive Costa Rica, a Costa Rica where we have a place,” according to the Washington Post.
Campbell Barr is also in the fight for LGBTQ rights within Costa Rica. She is a warrior on the front lines of human rights of all kinds. To see a black woman igniting change like this makes us elated!
