Costa Rica’s newly elected VP of Jamaican descent
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Costa Ricans on Sunday made history after electing their president, Carlos Alvarado and the first Afro-Costa Rican in that office as Vice President, Epsy Campbell Barr.
According to media reports Campbell Barr is of Jamaican descent.
Media reports that Campbell is named after her paternal grandmother, who migrated from Jamaica to the Costa Rican Caribbean coast with her husband. Epsy Campbell Barr was born in San José on July 4, 1963.
Campbell also joins a short list of women in places of privilege in Costa Rica politics including Thelma Curling, who was the first Afro-Costa Rican legislator (1982-1986), Victoria Garron, the first female vice-president (1986-1990) and Laura Chinchilla (2010-2014) the first female president.