Bogota, August 15 (RHC)-- The Vice President of Colombia, Francia Márquez, symbolically took office in her homeland, in the department of Cauca, from where she announced the creation of the Ministry of Equality, which she will lead.

The formation of this new portfolio will be done to "take on the biggest challenge that Colombia has: inequality," said the vice president.  In this sense, "the agreement was to create a Ministry of Equality, and this project will be submitted to Congress this week" and they hope it will be approved as a matter of urgency.

In the municipality of Suarez (Cauca), the vice president also celebrated being "the first Afro-descendant woman vice president of Colombia and the second Afro-descendant woman vice president in Latin America (...), a daughter of this people."

"For me this possession is not symbolic, it is a mandate of the people.  Being the first Afro-descendant woman to become vice-president of Colombia, I have a great responsibility with women, equality, total peace and dignity," she said.

In another part of her speech, Francia Márquez reported that President Gustavo Petro gave her her first task, to be in charge of guaranteeing to bring water to the Colombian Pacific.

"Our first commitment is to make the conditions of these aqueducts move forward and not be stranded," said the vice president.

Márquez went to her hometown, Suárez Cauca, where she was the subject of a symbolic possession by Afro communities to the sound of the snail, with flowers, fruits, coffee beans, cocoa and corn, as a blessing from Mother Earth.