Colombia: Vice President-Elect Francia Márquez Lectures TV Anchor on What ‘Vivir Sabroso’ Means

Caracas, June 22, 2022 (OrinocoTribune.com)—During an interview on Colombian national television, the newly-elected vice president of Colombia, Francia Márquez, gave a spectacular response to a discriminatory question posed to her, asking about her possible move to the presidential palace while simultaneously perverting the interpretation of her campaign slogan vivir sabroso (to live well or with dignity).

Given the concern of Channel 1 journalist, Claudia Palacios, about whether the move of the vice president-elect to the presidential palace is part of what Márquez deemed as viviendo sabroso during her campaign, the leader of women’s rights and the rights of the black community in Colombia replied with patience and fortitude. She lectured the journalist about what it actually means to vivir sabroso, and clarified that it is not just about having a house.

This is an amazing response from Colombian Vice President Francia Marquez to racist and classist comments from a TV anchor ❤️👊🫣 https://t.co/WOb8f2LSj7

— Orinoco Tribune (@OrinocoTribune) June 22, 2022

She responded that, thankfully, she already has a decent house, and for those who may think that because she is an impoverished woman, whose new title will give her access to the presidential palace, she will now be able to vivir sabrosa, are highly mistaken.

“That is part of the classism of this country, if you look at it from that angle. I invite you to reflect on what it means to vivir sabroso for the black community, from our ethnic and cultural identity. [Vivir sabroso] refers to living without fear, living in dignity. It refers to living with a guarantee of rights.”

In addition, Márquez pointed out that she would prefer to live in her own house, but that the security measures required to be able to do so, do not exist. She stressed that living surrounded by bodyguards and armed security personnel does not mean to vivir sabroso either.

Then, the journalist tried to go back and change the question that was initially asked, explaining that she was only interested in knowing if the vice president would change her residence from Cali to Bogotá. Márquez stopped the Colombian so-called journalist in her tracks, firstly by clarifying that this is an entirely different question, and then replying that she did not initiate her political career to merely get a position or a house.

She added that she wishes that the circumstances had left her living in her community, where she can live peacefully and continue to sow the land and work with the people of her community. However in reality, it was the sustained violence that she was experiencing, that many people today are still experiencing, which made her take on this unprecedented responsibility of being the first black female vice president in Colombia.

The Colombian vice president-elect posted the exchange in a short video evidencing the discriminatory behaviour of Claudia Palacios, and a few hours later the Colombian anchor posted a tweet portraying herself as the victim, since the whole interview was not shown in the video posted by the new Colombian vice president.

No, no creo eso @FranciaMarquezM .Pensé q había quedado claro q ese no fue el sentido de mi pregunta. Me entristece que uses tu red para sacar justamente el segmento de la confusión. Acá, desde 21’23” está completo: https://t.co/6UZPcsiW3X @CMILANOTICIA https://t.co/eQgMyZXwMv

— Claudia Palacios (@claudiapalacios) June 22, 2022

The anchor wrote: “No, I don’t believe that Francia Márquez. I thought it was clear that that was not the nature of my question. I’m saddened by you using your social media platforms to only show the clip causing the misunderstanding,” while in the full interview Márquez makes it very clear that there was no misunderstanding and that the so-called clarified question was actually an entirely different question from the racist and classist one.

Claudia, su pregunta fue malintencionada, que después se haya acomodado es otra cosa.

Si erró lo más normal es reconocer y ahora no posar de víctima o que la sacaron de contexto.

— John Téllez (@Johntellez13) June 22, 2022

A Twitter user, John Téllez had the most liked reply to Palacios tweet: “Claudia, your question was malicious, the fact that you fixed it after is another story. If you made a mistake the normal thing to do is to recognize it, and not act like a victim or like it was taken out of context.”

During the presidential race many right-wing Colombians used the vivir sabroso slogan in a perverted way by associating it to living in luxury and having an exuberant lifestyle, but in several occasions Petro and Márquez explained that this was not the meaning of the slogan, and that the true meaning is exactly as Francia Márquez had responded to Claudia Palacios.

Orinoco Tribune’s staff special

OT/JRE/DD