Francia Márquez, Colombia’s vice-president who invited Harry and the Duchess after watching their Netflix documentary, is one of the world’s leading voices in the call for reparations, setting up a national commission to “repair the historical debt owed”.
Ms Marquez said part of her decision to invite the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to Colombia was because she views them as a joint symbol of resistance and two vital voices against injustice.
“The Duke and Duchess came to Colombia…this is Colombia. This is where the roots of our ancestors and our forefathers are from,” she told an audience at the local drum school, which included members of her own family.
“A community like this cannot be displaced.”
She said it was important to preserve Colombian heritage and the art of drumming symbolises freedom for Black communities around the world.
The vice president’s office described the visit to San Basilio de Palenque as a “special meeting to connect with African roots and “to learn about the experiences and living conditions of black, Afro-descendant Raizal and Palenquero peoples in the region”.
Speaking in the town, Harry said: “It feels like we have already seen the whole country.”
He added: “What we are seeing here is everything that is a community, do not forget the message of the vice president, they are stronger together, they are stronger united as one.”
Sussexes praised for ‘breaking protocol’
Tour guide Juan Manuel Márquez Padilla, 37, spoke to the Duke and Duchess during their visit, telling them: “We want racial discrimination to end.”
He told The Telegraph that Harry replied: “We’re working on that.”
“I liked them because they’re working for human rights,” Mr Padilla added.
Manuel Perez Salinas, the tour guide who showed Harry and Meghan around the town, said he told them about the community’s music, cultural identity, hand crafts and their founder, Benkos Bioho.
When showing them the statue of the founder, he said he told them: “This is a monument to the liberator of who formed the palenque and led the resistance of the enslaved people to found the first free palenque.”
He praised Harry and Meghan for “breaking protocol” and choosing to visit the town. He said he was not expecting Harry to apologise for the Crown’s role in colonial slavery.