On Nov 15, 1996, Sao Paolo, Brazil's largest and richest city, elected its first black mayor, former finance secy Celso Roberto Pitta do Nascimento, who won 57% of the vote.
When Ernesto Estupinan Quintero was elected mayor of the city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, in 2000, he was the first self-identifying Black person to reach this position. The city of Esmeraldas is the capital of the only province of the nation where Afro-Ecuadorians are the largest racial and cultural group. Immediately upon his election, Ernesto began commissioning murals and statues that contested traditional representations of Blackness.
