Colombia's presidential front-runner Gustavo Petro wants, if he wins later this month, to stop all new oil exploration and move his country to a greener future.
That lines him up with Chile's recently-elected President Gabriel Boric, a Millennial who has also pledged to take a firm stance on tackling climate change.
Marquez, who would be Colombia's first Afro-Colombian vice president, stressed in an interview that she and Petro would break not only with the country's conservatives, who have long embraced oil and coal, but also with fellow regional leftists like Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, an unapologetic backer of fossil fuels.
Lula also presided over state-run Petrobras' discovery of some 50 billion barrels of crude in offshore deposits, a tantalizing find that was seen as a potential gamechanger for alleviating poverty. "I think the newest thing would be environmental and energy concerns," he told Reuters, dubbing them "more urgent" than during Lula's earlier government.
Lopez Obrador last month won congressional support to nationalize the exploitation of lithium, a crucial battery metal that Mexico does not yet produce. The Mexican leader has since said he wants to join Chile, Argentina and Bolivia to advance likeminded development.