By Sewe Ishola,

The people of Costa Rica have elected a new president, Carlos Alvarado. However, his running mate, Espy Campell is the centre  of  attraction.

With the election, Epsy Campbell has become the first black female person to be elected vice president in the country.

Speaking on her election, Campbell said:

It would not be the first only in Costa Rica but in Latin America. And eventually, if the president leaves the country, [I would be] the first woman of African descent to assume the presidency of the entire American continent. It’s a big responsibility.

It will be a responsibility not only to represent people of African descent but to represent all women and men in the country, a country that gives us all the same opportunities.

According to Newsweek, Epsy Alejandra Campbell Barr is one of the founders of the Part ido Accion Cuidadana (PAC), and she joins the ranks of Thelma Curling, the first Afro-Costa Rican legislator (1982-1986), Victoria Garron, the first vice-president (1986-1990) and Laura Chinchilla (2010-2014) the first president, with her landmark achievement.

Campbell’s paternal grandparents migrated from Jamaica to Costa Rica, where she was born in 1953 and named after her grandmother, Epsy.