The daughter of the president of Colombia’s Conservative Party was elected Queen of the Barranquilla carnival Thursday amid accusations of nepotism.
The queen of the upcoming carnival, Daniela Cepeda, is the daughter of Efrain Cepeda, CP president and accused of having pressured the jury to elect his daughter over the other candidates.
A local journalist reported earlier this week that Cepeda had met with Barranquilla mayor Elsa Noguera and that the imminent election of the politician’s daughter would be the returned favor for Conservative support for Noguera when she was running for mayor in 2011.
Noguera denied the deal and stressed that Cepeda’s competitor, Laura Garcia, also came from a politically powerful family.
The new Carnival Queen is 23 and studies Political Science at the Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla.