Afro-Costa Rican activist to run for president (Epsy Campbell)

[arcos]

Afro-Costa Rican activist to run for president

Epsy Campbell, an economist-turned-activist of Afro-Caribbean descent, said Monday she would seek her party's nomination to run in the 2010 presidential elections.

Running on a platform of change, she will challenge Citizen Action Party (PAC) founder Ottón Solís, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2002 and 2006 and intends to run again.

...

PAC is now divided over whether to hold a nationwide primary, open to all Ticos, or a closed primary in which only the 80 National Assembly members vote. While the assembly overwhelmingly favors Solís, a nationwide race would be tight, according to recent polls.

Campbell said PAC can win in 2010 only if it holds an open primary, which she said would attract new people to the party.

“I am proposing an open party, a party that will attract tens of thousands of adherents, ” she said. “That is the PAC I dream about, and that is the PAC I am working for. ”

http://www.ticotimes.net/dailyarchive/2009_02/0217091.htm


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Llego La Hora! Epsy Makes It Official!

Shortly after noon today, Epsy Campbell confirmed her decision to run for the leadership of the Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC) in the 2010 presidential elections and face the party's founder, Ottón Solís, for the nomination.

"Llego la hora" (the time has come) is the slogan for the campaign.

Campbell, six months ago, discarded the possibility of running for the party leadership.

Campbell said that her objective is to see the PAC grow as it faces its third consecutive presidential elections since its founding in 2000.

Campbell has a tough task ahead of her, convincing the militants of the party that to win the February 7, 2010 elections, the PAC has to hold an open convention that allows as many voters as possible to elect its leadership.

http://insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2009/february/17/nac01.htm

[Judi Lynn]

1. Best wishes to Epsy Campbell's campaign. I've heard of her before, too.

Does she have a good following, arcos?

I don't know anything about Costa Rican politics, don't know how welcome a good progressive would be there.

Her start as an economist sounds similar to Rafael Correa, in Ecuador. Very interesting.

Here's more on the potential President from the Miami Herald, June 24, 2007:

PANAMA CITY -- Epsy Campbell, whose grandparents moved to Costa Rica from Jamaica to work on the country's railroads, is an economist-turned activist-turned politician who came within 3,300 votes of becoming vice president of Costa Rica last year.

Outside the Caribbean, no Afro-descendant has ever reached such political heights in the hemisphere. She's even mentioned as a serious contender for the presidency in the next elections.

"I am the most atypical of the Costa Rican stereotype," she says, flashing a politician's easy smile. "I'm black, and I'm a woman."

For 42-year old Campbell, racism can be subtle.

"I can't say racism doesn't exist," she told The Miami Herald at a conference for black activists in Panama City, "but in a person like me it manifests in ways that are so sophisticated that many times it is hard to spot."

Occasionally, she notes expressions of surprise in people she meets, as if her intelligence and eloquence defy expectations. It's almost racism in reverse, she says, as though people are overcome with an "excess of admiration."

Campbell is a busy woman these days, heading the Citizens' Action Party -- a coalition of grassroots organizations that was created in 2002 and is now Costa Rica's second biggest party.

But she still finds time to address Latin American black activists, with speeches that are a mix of pep talk and hard facts.

There are few black judges in the region but many blacks in jail, she tells her audiences. Latin American blacks in positions of power -- cabinet posts and other senior government jobs -- number fewer than 20 and only 2 percent of all elected legislators are black.

The novelty of a black female face in Costa Rican politics is beginning to wear off, she said, and that's probably a good thing.

"You are no longer the exception, the rarity," she says. "Racism and discrimination have much to do with ignorance and fear of the unknown."

http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/afrolatin/part5/achieve.html

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She sounds completely prepared for public life. This level of maturity is not that common among politicians.

Thanks for the news, and nudge to watch out for her name through 2010, arcos.

[arcos]

2. She's one of the most popular politicians in the country...

And I've been wanting her as President since she first came to public life, 8 years ago. Now, I'm honored to be on her campaign team. :D

We are ready for a progressive like Epsy. She's extremely popular among young people and among women, and unlike Ottón Solís, her party's founder, she is not hated by a huge chunk of the people. She's a middle class woman, who lives in a middle class neighborhood, and had to work hard to make ends meet. She's extremely intelligente, charismatic and inspires people. There have been a lot of Obama comparisons. :P

Her positions on some issues could be controversial in a conservative and Catholic country like Costa Rica... things are changing, but these topics are still sort of taboo. Abortion, gay rights, separation of church and state, etc are topics that will come up.