Afro-Colombians helped install a new government in Bogotá. Will it address their needs?

The wooden bars of the xylophone-like marimba bounce under the heads of enthusiastic mallets. Guasás – bamboo cylinders filled with seeds – begin to shake in unison. Dressed in a white cotton dress and straw sombrero, Otoniel Orobio sing.

In Guapi, an isolated town of 38,000 inhabitants on Colombia’s Pacific coast, 10 bands from the surrounding region are competing for a coveted spot at the finals of the Petronio Álvarez festival, an…