Nasa Indigenous Senator Aida Quilcué has been confirmed as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the progressive Historic Pact (PH) party ahead of May’s elections. On Monday 9 March, PH presidential candidate Iván Cepeda, who has consistently topped polls since October, announced he had selected Quilcué as his running mate.
Since being elected to the Senate in 2022 as a candidate for the MAIS indigenous party, having previously served as a governor in the Cauca Indigenous Regional Council (CRIC), Aida has supported full implementation of the 2016 peace agreement, protections for indigenous territories and the environment, measures to tackle sexual harassment and the passing of social reforms to tackle inequality.
In a video posted to social media, Cepeda said ‘I feel honoured to announce this decision to the country. The CRIC and Aida represent the best traditions of resistance, social struggle and the construction of a fair and democratic country.’
Aida rose to national prominence as a longstanding activist and leader in Cauca, particularly following the mass mobilisation of around 15,000 people from Cauca to Bogota to protest poor social conditions and violence in 2008. While travelling to the protest, known as a ‘Minga’ (a Nasa word for collective labour), Aida’s husband Edwin Legarda was murdered by the army. During the subsequent trials of soldiers involved, Aida and her daughter received multiple threats.
Her presence on the PH’s platform presents a contrast with the main right-wing presidential contender Paloma Valencia, who in 2015 proposed segregating Cauca into two departments: one for indigenous people and one for those with European ancestry. Valencia, a Senator in the hard-right Democratic Centre, was the main winner in Sunday’s primaries and may seek to form alliances with centrist candidates.
Some analysts had predicted Cepeda to also reach out to the centre in his choice of Vice-Presidential running mate. However, the nomination of Aida Quilcué follows a similar strategy to that engaged by the Historic Pact in 2022, when African-Colombian feminist and environmental activist Francia Márquez stood with Gustavo Petro on the ticket. Her presence was credited as a major factor in the massive turnout in favour of the PH in historically marginalised municipalities, particularly in southwest Colombia.
Cauca is one of the regions of Colombia most impacted by conflict and structural poverty. Today, indigenous communities continue to face appalling levels of violence, with the United Nations having warned several times of the threat from armed groups to local populations.