As part of this date, Vice President and Minister of Equality and Justice Francia Márquez presided over the inauguration ceremony of the body, which aims to overcome the impact of racism, racial discrimination and colonialism on ethnic peoples of the country.
“Today, as Vice President, I am pleased to be able to say for the first time about our state and our nation that there is a commission that will advance people’s reparations for the effects of racism and colonialism,” said Márquez in the Gestsemani neighborhood of Cartagena, where the event took place. the act.
He assured that this October 12th will also go down in history for the new meaning of the commemoration of this date.
He recalled that Cartagena was the main port of entry for enslaved people, which is why the city has deep historical significance and becomes a symbolic place for people who suffered the consequences of colonization, the slave trade and genocide.
In addition, it represents a key scenario to highlight the need for historical reparations of the indigenous, Afro-Colombian, black, Raizal and Palenquero peoples, he added.
“This is not about each of us getting a check. “We want to regain the dignity that slavery, colonialism and racism have deprived us of, and that do not allow boys and girls to feel proud and worthy as human beings,” emphasized the Vice President.
Here we are dealing with a fundamental human right, namely the right to dignity that people have, he added.
The National Commission for Historical Reparations will be responsible for coordinating various government agencies to combat the violence that continues to this day, a legacy of the colony and enslavement “that does not allow our people to live with dignity,” he explained .
This new entity brings together the Vice Presidency, nine Ministries, two Directorates and a Council with voice and voting rights, and five Directorates and a Superintendence with voice and non-voting rights, in accordance with Decree 820 of 2023.
In this way, it is the first commission, after the Caribbean Community (Caricom), which brings together the governments of this region, to bring together units of a nation-state to develop measures of historical reparation in an ethno-racial key.
“It is hoped that this will set a precedent for building a truly just and dignified society, both in the memory of these people and in the present and future that they are building every day,” concluded the Vice President.
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