When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did their tour of Nigeria, every racist white man and white woman in Britain was called upon to give on-camera interviews about the Sussexes and Nigeria. Those racists were not content to simply denigrate and mock Harry and Meghan. Of course not – they also felt it necessary to denigrate Nigeria and Nigerians. Those people showed their whole asses and there was a lot of pushback on social media. I’m sure it will be the same for Harry and Meghan’s Colombian tour – suddenly, “royal experts” will become self-styled experts in South America and internal Colombian politics. Interestingly enough, the Independent spoke to an actual Colombian political scholar to get the inside dish on why Colombia’s vice president extended the invitation to the Sussexes:
Harry and Meghan will touch down in Colombia this week as guests of the vice-president following the success of their three-day visit to Nigeria – but the invite has not been without controversy. The royal couple will be given the opportunity to “illuminate Colombia’s role as a beacon of culture and innovation”, according to vice-president Francia Márquez, who has come under growing pressure alongside incumbent President Gustavo Petro, as part of a government stained by scandal and corruption allegations.
Now, a leading Colombian scholar has suggested Márquez’s invite of the Sussexes was a move of self-promotion, rather than an act of serious diplomacy.
Colombia’s first black vice-president and a “symbol” according to political scientist Mónica Pachón, Márquez famously led a campaign against illegal mining, which saw her named on the BBC’s 100 Women list in 2019.In 2014, she was also involved in the Colombian peace process between the government and FARC – a Marxist revolutionary guerilla group – in one of Colombia’s largest steps towards ending the decades-long Colombian conflict.
But Pachón told The Independent that Márquez is not close to the President and “has not done much in the last two years” – so wants to “bring people who give her media attention”.
Some suggested the invite was a ploy from President Petro to deflect attention from a scandal-ridden term – but Ms Pachón dismissed the idea, arguing Petro “doesn’t care” about diplomacy and was “not involved”.
“He doesn’t care, right? His behaviour as a diplomat, he doesn’t arrive to the most important meetings with the US President, he’s travelling abroad to do stupid stuff. But I think he allows the vice president to do this kind of thing because she is the vice president, and she requires a little bit of attention. If the Duke and the Duchess are willing to play that game, well, good business for them,” Ms Pachón added.
I’m not going to pretend to know a great deal about Colombian politics or Francia Marquez, but I looked up her Wiki page to see if it was true that she “hasn’t done much in the last two years.” I found that she’s largely been acting as a diplomat-at-large (as many vice presidents do), she took the position of Minister of Equality and Equity, she is a visible advocate for the environment and for Black Colombians and she’s also one of the biggest targets of racist abuse in the country (she is the highest-ranking Black person in the history of Colombia’s government). It actually seems perfectly reasonable that Marquez made a point of inviting the Sussexes to Colombia specifically on the issue of cyberbullying and online hate campaigns. The idea that Marquez is just a famewhore and she invited the Sussexes to get attention seems like it is nowhere near the real situation.
These are photos of Marquez meeting with Duchess Sophie last November. I guess Sophie is just a famewhore too, helping out another famewhore.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh has the opportunity to discuss the challenges that indigenous, Afro-Colombian, and ethnic women and their communities face at a meeting with the Vice President of Colombia Francia Márquez Featuring: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, Francia Márquez Where: Bogota, Colombia When: 28 Nov 2023 Credit: Cover Images
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- Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh has the opportunity to discuss the challenges that indigenous, Afro-Colombian, and ethnic women and their communities face at a meeting with the Vice President of Colombia Francia Márquez Featuring: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, Francia Márquez Where: Bogota, Colombia When: 28 Nov 2023 Credit: Cover Images
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- Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh has the opportunity to discuss the challenges that indigenous, Afro-Colombian, and ethnic women and their communities face at a meeting with the Vice President of Colombia Francia Márquez Featuring: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, Francia Márquez Where: Bogota, Colombia When: 28 Nov 2023 Credit: Cover Images
Question…
Did they do all this research and reporting when Sophie when to Colombia?
Asking for a friend…
No, because nobody cared that Sophie was in Colombia and that includes the press.
Exactly. No one even knew Sophie was even *there* until after the fact!
Like, what is the exact point of a “Working British Royal” going to visit a foreign country, in or out of the Commonwealth, if the British press isn’t even going to bother to report on it with the same enthusiasm as they do when they micro-obsess over nonsense like Meghan’s shoes?
Or what about when Queen Maxima touched down in February this year?
https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/712427/royal-visits-to-colombia-before-prince-harry-meghan-markle-tour/
Wonder how long it took for Sophie to run to a sunk and scrub her hands?? Ol’ racist plain Kmart trying to be a washed out Diana.
No. The Independent ran a story 11/30/23 about Sophie visiting a coffee farm, but the story did not indicate her purpose in going to Colombia, nor other details of the visit. A DailyFail headline said Sophie went to Colombia at the request of “[British] Foreign, Development and Commonwealth Office.”
Hello magazine reported Sophie’s trip came at request of UK government, and had something to do with women and sexual violence during conflict. Hello said Sophie met with British ambassador as well as VP Francia Marquez. Hello also reported on Sophia touring facilities with connections to Kew Gardens and UK DNA sequencing technology. Sounded like Sophie was not invited by Colombia leaders. From Hello reporting, it did not appear Sophie had solved violence against women in conflict situations.
i beleive she is just very savy, everyone knows by now if H&M are out in the world reporters like to talk about them, intelligent people will see through the noise and get something out of it the others will self flagellate
Yes, yes, I agree Lili.
The VP is harnessing the spotlight that’s usually on them to bring visibility to issues/challenges she is tackling and solve and naturally as a politician she hopes her legacy benefits as well. They also say it – if you are looking at us, well look at what we are looking at.
As the first one and a woman as well who is African heritage presenting in Latin America – I can’t even imagine how challenging it is for her as The First and the current Only – the daily micro aggressions must be mentally brutal for her, I read she faced a significant amount of credible online abuse last year, so i can see why she has connected to Meghan’s story via the Netflix Doc.
It’s clear she knows their areas of interest as in her Press Conference – she mentioned first approaching M about joining the IWD at UN.
Already this trip has expanded my knowledge on how social media impacting others beyond my world . We can get myopic in our lives, not realizing sometimes that the same challenges we face, others are facing – I was surprise to learn from the summary of their event last night that teens in Latin American check social media an average of 67 times a day vs global average of 45 times. So, for me it has already expanded my thinking and I didn’t know about the planned summit in November before.
If your heritage is of the global south, like mine, it is quite common to see people on the international stage with platforms , who are not connected to their country’s Government visit the global south and discuss shared challenges and use their platform to heightened awareness and develop solution, so what Meghan and Harry are doing through Archewell is quite normal – Angelina Jolie did it. Oprah has been doing it forever, even President Carter did it post Presidency – he used his post presidency platform to push solutions for things he wanted to change like voting challenges. Even this past Olympics, look how NBC leveraged and harnessed Snoop Dogg – the only sports i associated him with was his coaching of youth football – and he brought his special sauce to the entire Olympics 🙂 . I think let them do what they are doing, it’s normal and it’s helping to bring our experiences more into view of each other in other parts of the world.
I didn’t even know that Sophiesta had been there or that she had even met Marquez — isn’t that the rub? No one cares what the leftovers do.
I also heard that Vice President Harris hasn’t done anything since she’s taking office in 2020. There is a way the media likes to evaluate Black women in power.
Yep and that same press that wasn’t covering the numerous trip she did overseas, and speaking engagements now was pissed that she doesn’t want to sit down and do an interview with them. The British media just has to make Harry and Meghan seem unserious or in need of Buckingham palaces guiding hand because it all boils down to the same thing. If people that we aren’t paying for can be well received, achieve success in their initiatives, and be well respected why aren’t we getting the same return on the people that we are paying all this money for?
It honestly is so insane that the press that ignored and belittled VP Harris for years doesn’t get why she has gone around them. Many of them similar to rota rats are furious that she is doing so well WITHOUT having to rely on them.
She wants attention to her country to help tourism. There fixed it for ya BM
Marquez is a black woman so no big surprise that they managed to find someone to denigrate her accomplishments.
Just like Nigeria the BM finds one local Negative Nelly to justify the or putrid coverage of the Sussexes.
Isn’t the whole purpose of these trips for attention? They’re not there to do “hard diplomacy” like what, negotiate a treaty? This isn’t a story. The British media is so boring and predictable!
Exactly. She invited them to bring attention to their country and get coverage from global media.
And nothing wrong with that
I’m sure an immediate summit will be called at Balmoral and titles will be threatened to be revoked next.. same 💩 different travel destination.. Jamaica, Nigeria and now Colombia.
You called it lol. There is literally a Balmoral summit story today where they’re going to discuss removing the Sussex titles.
That’s the thing, the British press had no problem with Sophie visiting Colombia last year and I’m sure the press used the visit bash Meghan. So why is it a problem that Harry and Meghan are going to Colombia and are going to meet the same VP now?
Again they are angry that the Sussexes get invites and the lazy leftovers don’t. The leftovers have to invite themselves to countries.
Am I the only one who finds the Harry and Meghan touring a bit strange? I don’t quite understand their role in these events or the purpose behind them. I also find it a little awkward that they continue to use the Sussex title. They left that institution for a reason, so it seems inconsistent that they still benefit from the exclusivity of the title.
@Sophie, would you ask the same question if this tour / visit was in connection with a member of the RF ? I guess not. So you see, your question is showing your bias – that only the RF , Govt officials should be doing this type of thing.
Well the last time I checked , the RF does not own the EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS to this type of activity . It’s a free world. It’s up to the individuals concerned . BTW – The Sussexes were INVITED BY THE COLOMBIAN GOVT. They did not invite themselves
As regarding the Title, H&M offered to hand it back but The Late Queen refused. Perhaps KC3 knew that them retaining the title would be one hold he still has over them
Given all that H&M have been subjected to ie the abuse on going campaign to thwart their efforts to lead an independent life & smash up their marriage , Meghan should do all she can to ensure she continues to follow her dreams. What they had in store for her was to make her useless
The Sussex title is the last gift from QE2 that hasn’t been stripped from Prince Harry. Also it is literally H&M’s surname. Nothing awkward about using your surname.
I find their touring to be delightful. They showcase the best a country has to offer, they connect with the locals, visit charities and bring donations with them. They bring new donors and opportunities to the organizations and charities they showcase. Prince Harry and Princess Meghan are celebrities who are committed to bringing sparkle and attention to those who need it.
Who could find fault with that?
@Sophie, would you ask the same question if this tour / visit was in connection with a member of the RF ? I guess not. So you see, your question is showing your bias – that only the RF , Govt officials should be doing this type of thing.
Well the last time I checked , the RF does not own the EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS to this type of activity . It’s a free world. It’s up to the individuals concerned . BTW – The Sussexes were INVITED BY THE COLOMBIAN GOVT. They did not invite themselves
As regarding the Title, H&M offered to hand it back but The Late Queen refused. Perhaps KC3 knew that them retaining the title would be one hold he still has over them
Given all that H&M have been subjected to ie the abuse on going campaign to thwart their efforts to lead an independent life & smash up their marriage , Meghan should do all she can to ensure she continues to follow her dreams. What they had in store for her was to make her useless ie ensure that (1) her marriage is completely smashed up (2) un alive her & if that is not possible, make her a PARIAH in the UK & her home country , the US. But for God, her whole life would have been completely destroyed.
I personally think it’s wicked for anyone ( ie your self) to request for Meghan to live on the terms the RF expect her to live.
@Sophie: They left because the Royal Family refused to protect them and to let them be half in and half out. Despite the propaganda they wanted to continue in their roles within the Royal Family. They are now just following in the footsteps of Princess Diana who continued to do visits when she was separated and divorced from Charles.
Well, it boils down to your sentence: “They left that institution for a reason.” Of course they did. But the reasons they left had nothing to do with disputes about titles or their unwillingness to do the work associated. It had to do with the family’s participation in tabloid factionalism and harassment, from tradition. Given this, I don’t feel it’s inconsistent.
As an addendum – it’s really for the philanthropy connection. If they didn’t have their foundation or connection to that kind of work, I could understand it would be a bit strange maybe.
The title was a wedding gift from his Granny. He loved his Granny.
Harry & Meghan launched a new initiative called the Parents Network from their foundation Archewell that aims to address the issues of children harmed by social media. Multiple events that they are doing in Colombia relate to that(they already did an event at a school touching on cyber bullying today). Simlarly their trip to Nigeria was focused on Harry’s Invictus Games and they also visited with some orgs supported by their Archewell foundation. Celebrities visit foreign countries in support of their philanthropic work all the time it’s not abnormal; hell Meghan did it before she met Harry when she was a UN Ambassador, USO volunteer, etc.
And re the titles: they offered to give them up when they left in 2020 but while they were asked to stop using HRH, which they did, his grandmother wanted them to keep the titles she gave them on their wedding day. They still had a lot of love for her even after everything and tbh it would’ve looked bad if they threw the titles back in her face because some people actually liked Betty(but no one really cares about charles or his heir)
Looking at Mónica Pachón’s Twitter, it seems that she’s opposed to the left-wing politics of Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez.
She’s retweeting posts in support of the national oil company, among other things, while Francia Márquez was a recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize and GP’s government has been successful already at reducing illegal logging and deforestation.
Scandals and talk of corruption are part and parcel of the Colombian political parties, and one of GP’s sons has apparently been arrested on money laundering charges, but it seems that Petro succesfully fought corruption while mayor of Colombia’s capital Bogotá.
I think that opposing H&M’s visit in a British paper could be a way of raising Mónica Pachón’s profile. I don’t get her jibe about GP being disinterested in diplomacy, as his candidacy was supported by politicians from outside of Colombia, e.g. from the Spanish PSOE, the party of the current PM.
Bitter grapes, IMO.
Yes, of course, the diplomatic invite/visit is for publicity—they all are. The same is true of Sofie’s visit and Charles and Camillas. This is not new nor something worth debating.
Regarding everything else, it’s a complicated political situation. She is part of a majorly left-wing political party, and the president, Petro, is a former member of a violent guerilla. There have been scandals left and right, and frankly, the country would have been better off if they had just stuck with the normal “liberal” (democratic) party instead of swinging so far left. But at least it didn’t swing to the extreme right.
Besides being Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro’s homie and calling Hugo Chavez “a great leader,” he has a 66% disapproval rate. The massive uptick in crime with the uncontrolled Venezuelan immigration he is allowing into the country isn’t helping his administration either.
He’s Bernie but without the fan base.
So according to this “scholar” all the other royals were also invited to bring attention to the vice-president, including their own from Sophie? Queen Maxima and Princess Victoria and Daniel have also done a tours of Colombia. It seems there are regular visits by European royalty to the country, including Spain. According to the British royals themselves, their role in these tours is to “bring awareness” and that is what Harry and Meghan do for the issues that they are actually actively involved with, but in addition they do real work with real results.
Jemmy – 💯 Well said! And thanks for saying it.
H&M are their own brand with their own IT factor and need no titles and no assistance from a royal family, stemming from a bygone and best forgotten era. Besides, if a title was the only requirement to remain relevant in the world, the UK royal family would still be. At this point, even they know -along with many of us – the UK royal family is on a downward spiral with no real relevance of its own. Must be painful for them to realize much of the world sees just how irrelevant they really are. QEII provided great cover for them.
Secondly, although we love Harry and are glad he’s here, I and many other Americans are really tired of the constant beatdown and bashing of our countrywoman and her children. We as a people are becoming more and more aware of the effect the rightwing BM is trying to have on our press and on our country. We don’t subscribe to that garbage in the US. We have some important political business to finish up here first, so the BM is not much more than a minor annoyance to us right now. But when we finish with our priorities; make no mistake, our next step is to finish any influence you think you may have here. We’ve had ENOUGH! Don’t believe me? Hide and watch!
@CreoleTomato, This fellow American cosigns.
They keep haranguing Meghan and her children, yet Peg’s people keep bragging how he’ll charm and conquer America. Those fools need to use critical thinking. Most Americans aren’t obsessively fixated on how Meghan ”doesn’t know her place” or how to bring the Sussexes “to heel”. But we all – no matter whether we are bigots or not (and some Americans are) – see the racism and hate that so many in the UK seem to have for our countrywoman.
We see.
@Beverley. That’s right My Girl! Meghan’s star is alway on the rise, and she does not need their faint praise. It is so hard to understand why W&K believe anyone in the US would be mesmerized by them. It boggles the mind.
Corruption scandals are a dime a dozen in Colombia and I can’t really say that there were more than, say, the Uribe presidency or the Santos presidency. Also this is the first left leaning president and the status quo people are quite stressed.
I don’t understand *why* these types of visits are suddenly only considered to be exclusively to royals. Philanthropists will frequently travel to where they want to invest and see the situation on the ground. This has been the case from Bill Gates to John Green.
And Colombia has a large white European population (the 3 racial groups are white, indigenous and black), and the whites tend to be more prosperous and more racists. That’s the same all over South America. I can imagine a black VP has rattled the white upper middle class a lot.
Breaking news: Politician seeks attention!
Expert explains why that never happens in the United States, where politicians are demure types who shrink from media exposure that could advance their causes.
(Saw the first photos of M&H there and Meghan looks STUNNING.)
So an unnamed lawyer speaks to the Independent about the visit. Please don’t refer to it as a tour, H&M were invited to visit. Question to ask “Does the lawyer support an opposition party?”
“Now, a leading Colombian scholar has suggested Márquez’s invite of the Sussexes was a move of self-promotion, rather than an act of serious diplomacy.”
Is this ‘leading’ scholar white? Just wondering.
Let me be perfectly clear: the American people have had ENOUGH. Hide and Watch!
When the Sussex couple went to Nigeria im guessing it was because it had to do with invictus games.
My question, why go to Colombia and accept this invitation?
I don’t understand this move. What or who are they representing here?!
You are ‘guessing’ it was because of Invictus Games? It was because of Invictus Games! The Nigerian officials did mention it clearly.
And what’s wrong with going to Columbia? Is it sinister for a couple with a charitable foundation to accept an invitation from Columbian officials and draw attention to specific causes? Is it necessary to represent anyone? If so, the Sussexes are representing their Archewell Foundation. Service is Universal. You don’t have to be a royal to do stuff like this. Harry & Meghan have said they’re interested in service and still plan to continue it. Its laughable at best to think that the Sussexes shouldn’t do events like these just because you don’t think its fine or because they aren’t representing the crown. Its not a necessity to represent a crown/monarch for tours like these. Stop consuming the royal propaganda. Columbian officials have called them. Deal with it.
@Liveliy, the Sussexes also have a scheduled meeting with the Colombia Invictus team. Kaiser mentioned that Colombia was the first South American country to join the Invictus Family. Who would object to them meeting with the Colombia Team and their families?
Unless you prefer they follow the Left Behind Royals’ example and simply ignore the wounded warrior contestants without of word of acknowledgment, support, or praise.
They are representing themselves and their philanthropic foundations and interests: Invictus Games, Archewell, etc.
@Liveliy – “My question, why go to Colombia and accept this invitation?”
Because they can.
They got an invite from Colombia’s VP. H&M is giving the country some positive press, which will no doubt help the country diminish some latent prejudicial ideas from people unfamiliar with the country. It might also help increase tourism since the areas they visit cater to international tourism. Plus, they help bring some eyes to non-profits and international humanitarian programs.
And then H&M get to see some pretty sights and eat some yummy food.
Win-win.
So Marquez has done absolutely nothing since taking office. Bullsh-t. They said that about VP Harris too. She invited the Sussexes bc she wants attention for her country. And? What’s the problem? Can’t wait to see all the beautiful and interesting pics of the Sussexes in beautiful Colombia.
Did any notice how tight Francia’s hand was when shaking Sophie’s hand. She looks hella uncomfortable😭😭😏