Epsy Campbell Barr

Epsy Alejandra Campbell Barr (born 4 July 1963 in San José, Costa Rica) is a Costa Rican politician and economist who served as the Vice-president of Costa Rica from 8 May 2018 to 8 May 2022.

She is the first woman of African descent to be vice president in Costa Rica and in Latin America.

Epsy Campbell attended secondary school at Liceo Franco Costarricense and graduated from Colegio Superior de Señoritas in 1980.

She holds higher education degrees in business administration, sociology, and political science from the University of Costa Rica, economics from the Latin University of Costa Rica, a master's in Advanced Techniques of Management and Political Decision from the Gadex Program in Madrid, Spain, and a master's in International Cooperation for Development from the Cultural and Social Studies Foundation in Madrid.

In 2021, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Brenau.

Campbell is a researcher and human rights activist focusing on women's rights, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, human development, social inclusion, and the environment.

She served as the coordinator of the Network of Afro-Latin American and Afro-Caribbean Women (1997-2001) and the coordinator of the Women's Forum for Central American Integration (1996-2001).

Additionally, she was a member of the Alliance of Afro-descendant Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, a founding member of the Center for Afro-Costa Rican Women, and a national and international consultant on employment, community and Afro-descendant women development, women's human rights, racism, sexism, and discrimination.

She is also a member of the Black Parliament of the Americas.

Campbell was a deputy of the Citizen Action Party for the 2002–2006 term, serving as leader from 2003 to 2006 and as the party's president from 2005 to 2009.

After serving in the legislature for four years (2002–2006) and running for vice president in 2006, Campbell decided to seek the nomination of the PAC.

She traveled the country in an RV, taking her anti-corruption and accountability message to PAC voters.

One of the founders of the Citizens' Action Party (PAC), she ran for president in 2010 and 2014, and was a deputy for San José Province in the Legislative Assembly from 2002 to 2006 and 2014 to 2018.

As of February 2013, she was the most popular opposition candidate; however, she bowed out of the race to Luis Guillermo Solís.

Three other candidates vied to represent PAC in the 2014 national elections: Juan Carlos Mendoza, Luis Guillermo Solís, and Ronald Solís Bolaños.

Solís became Costa Rica's president elect in March 2014.

In March 2014, Campbell won a deputy position in San Jose, Costa Rica as a PAC candidate.

When Solís became the de facto president elect, he mentioned that Campbell would be one of his choices for President of the Legislative Assembly, although Henry Mora Jiménez became the President of the Legislative Assembly in May 2014.

During her terms as a deputy, Campbell focused primarily on issues related to structural fiscal reform, emphasizing the progressivity of the tax system and efficiency in public spending.

Campbell has been married since 2015 to Costa Rican entrepreneur Berny Venegas Durán.

Epsy Campbell has been the head of the Center for Women of African Descent, the Alliance of Leaders of African descent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Black Parliament of the Americas.

She has participated in several conferences and meetings around the world, such as the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, the III World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, the World Conference on the Environment, Eco 92, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the First Encounter of Black Women of Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

She was Coordinator of the Women's Forum for Central American Integration of the Network of Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Women and organizer of the Second Meeting of Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Women in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Campbell is also member of the Washington D.C. based think tank The Inter-American Dialogue.

She has written books and articles on topics such as democracy, inclusion, political and economic participation of women, people of African descent, sexism and racism, among others.

She is an expert on issues of social development, equity, political participation of women and African descent.

In Costa Rica, Campbell played a key role in the approval of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Related Forms of Intolerance (2016).

She was part of the committee that prepared the "Regional Human Development Report (RHDR) for Latin America and the Caribbean: Multidimensional Progress" (2016), coordinated by the United Nations Development Program.

She has directed over 15 international investigations and authored 20 publications on social inclusion.

Campbell is a descendant of Jamaican migrants and carries the name of her grandmother, Epsy, whom she considers her main life inspiration, as narrated in the book "Luchadoras" by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

According to the publication, her early political battles were won within her own home, being part of a large family—five sisters and two brothers:

"As far back as I can remember, the distribution of responsibilities at home seemed unfair to me. According to Mom, one of the first phrases I learned was 'It's not fair!' It's not fair that the sisters wash the dishes and they don't; it's not fair that while they only clean the yard, we have to help in the kitchen; it's not fair that we make the beds and they don't. It's not fair! It's not fair!"

Her sister Sasha is a renowned singer, journalist, and presenter.

Her sister Shirley is an anthropologist, activist, and Afro-Costa Rican poet, author of the poem "Rotundamente negra", which has become a symbol for Afro-descendant women in Latin America.

Her sister Doris is a professional actress, dancer, and contemporary dance instructor at the National Dance Workshop, while her other siblings—Narda, Luis, and Gustavo Campbell—have maintained more discreet profiles.

In January 2016, she called on fellow deputies to discuss the need for a fiscal agreement to steer public finances toward sustainability.

She championed the constitutional reform for the removal of deputies who failed in their duty of probity, the proposal to repeal the National Intelligence and Security Directorate (DIS), the initiative to regulate lobbying in public functions, the declaration of August as the historical month of Afro-descendants in Costa Rica, the Law to Prevent and Punish All Forms of Discrimination, Racism, and Intolerance, a bill to prohibit the commercialization of illegal lotteries, and the Law against Street Harassment.

As a member of the Commission on Control of Income and Public Spending, she participated in investigations on the setting of rates by the Regulatory Authority for Public Services, the lack of execution of funds from an international loan with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to finance the Limón Ciudad-Puerto project, as well as the government's intention to acquire the El Tobogán Corporate Center to build the so-called "Government City".

Campbell was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position she held from May 8 to December 10, 2018.

Currently, she serves as the president of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent and is the founder of the Global Coalition Against Systemic Racism and for Reparations.