Colombia’s Vice President Francia Márquez accused the government on Wednesday of perpetuating racism and patriarchy, adding that she has carried out her duties for nearly three years “without economic guarantees.”

“It hasn’t been easy to serve as vice president. It hasn’t been easy to govern a country with a racialized state and a government that practices racism and patriarchy,” Márquez said during the opening of the forum Promoting Economic Justice for Afro-descendant Peoples and Individuals in Cali, southwestern Colombia.

Her remarks follow her departure in February from her concurrent role as Minister of Equality, which underscored a growing rift between her and President Gustavo Petro. The split deepened after Márquez criticized Petro’s decision to appoint the controversial Armando Benedetti—now Interior Minister—as head of the presidential office.

At the time, Márquez warned in a letter that both her life and her family’s were at risk due to her public denunciations of corruption and her willingness to “call out what is wrong.”

A prominent social leader, Márquez has gained international recognition for her resilience and outspoken advocacy. Her powerful voice made her a political phenomenon and the breakout star of Colombia’s 2022 elections. Petro chose her as his running mate, making her the first Afro-Colombian woman to serve as vice president.

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Márquez has become a symbol of hope, representation, and change for traditionally marginalized communities in Colombian society and politics.

Pope Leo XIV has issued his first decrees related to the causes of saints, approving the initial step toward beatification for two Catholic missionaries—Spanish Bishop Alejandro Labaka Ugarte (1920–1987) and Colombian Sister Inés Arango Velásquez (1937–1987)—both of whom were violently killed in the Ecuadorian Amazon, the Vatican announced on Thursday.

The newly elected pope, himself a former missionary in Peru for several decades, received Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and signed several decrees recognizing “the offering of life” by the two missionaries, as well as the “heroic virtues” of Indian Bishop Matteo Makil.

These are the first steps Pope Leo XIV has taken in the canonization process since his election on May 8.

In 2017, Pope Francis introduced the “offering of life” as a valid path toward beatification. It recognizes individuals who freely gave their lives for others, leading to death. For beatification, a miracle attributed to the candidate’s intercession is required; for canonization, a second miracle must be confirmed after beatification.

Alejandro Labaka Ugarte, also known by his religious name Manuel de Beizama, was born in Beizama, Spain, in 1920. A Capuchin friar and Apostolic Vicar of Aguarico, Ecuador, he was killed in 1987 in the Tigüino region of the Amazon, after attempting contact with an isolated Indigenous tribe. He died after being struck with spears.

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Sister Inés Arango Velásquez, known in religious life as María Nieves of Medellín, was born in 1937 in Medellín, Colombia. A professed nun of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family, she was killed alongside Labaka on June 21, 1987.

Both missionaries died at the hands of an uncontacted Indigenous group that sought to protect its territory from oil companies advancing into the rainforest.

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck the Greek islands of Crete and Santorini on Thursday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

So far, local authorities have not reported any casualties or major damage.

The USGS indicated the quake’s epicenter was located 82 kilometers northeast of Heraklion, Crete’s capital, at a depth of 64 kilometers. Meanwhile, Greece’s Institute of Geodynamics pinpointed the epicenter to be 56 kilometers from the town of Neapoli, at a depth of 60.3 kilometers.

The quake occurred less than a week after another tremor of similar magnitude was recorded between Crete and Santorini.

According to the Greek newspaper Ta Nea, the tremor triggered minor landslides in Crete and caused part of a building façade to collapse in Heraklion. Emergency services remain on alert to assess the situation.

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Greece’s Fire Service said in a statement that “all civil protection forces were immediately mobilized” after the quake, though no calls for assistance had been received at the time of the statement.

Back in February, a swarm of hundreds of earthquakes hit the region, prompting local residents and tourists—especially in Santorini—to flee. Experts believe the current seismic activity is linked to movements along the underwater Ánydros fault between Santorini and Amorgos, rather than the nearby volcanoes. However, they caution that such tremors could potentially reactivate volcanic activity in the area.

On May 14, a separate magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck east of Crete. It was felt in nearby islands, Athens, and even Turkey, but caused no damage.