Juan Manuel Santos

Juan Manuel Santos
Santos in 2018
32nd President of Colombia
In office
7 August 2010 – 7 August 2018
Vice PresidentAngelino Garzón
Germán Vargas Lleras
Oscar Naranjo
Preceded byÁlvaro Uribe
Succeeded byIván Duque
President pro tempore of the Pacific Alliance
In office
30 June 2017 – 24 July 2018
Preceded byMichelle Bachelet
Succeeded byMartin Vizcarra
In office
23 May 2013 – 20 June 2014
Preceded bySebastián Piñera
Succeeded byEnrique Peña Nieto
Minister of National Defence
In office
18 July 2006 – 18 May 2009
PresidentÁlvaro Uribe
Preceded byCamilo Ospina Bernal
Succeeded byFreddy Padilla de León (acting)
Minister of Finance and Public Credit
In office
7 August 2000 – 7 August 2002
PresidentAndrés Pastrana Arango
Preceded byJuan Camilo Restrepo Salazar
Succeeded byRoberto Junguito Bonnet
Minister of Foreign Trade
In office
18 November 1991 – 7 August 1994
PresidentCésar Gaviria
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byDaniel Mazuera Gómez
Presidential Designate of Colombia
In office
11 August 1993 – 7 August 1994
PresidentCésar Gaviria
Preceded byHumberto De la Calle
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
Born
Juan Manuel Santos Calderón

(1951-08-10) 10 August 1951 (age 73)
Bogotá, Colombia
Political partyLiberal Party (until 2005)
Social Party of National Unity (since 2005)
Spouse(s)Silvia Amaya Londoño (divorced)
ChildrenMartín
María Antonia
Esteban
Relatives
Alma materUniversity of Kansas (BA)
London School of Economics (MSc)
Harvard University (MPA)
AwardsNobel Peace Prize (2016)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance Colombia
Branch/serviceColombian Navy
Years of service1967–1971

Juan Manuel Santos Calderón GColIH GCB GColL ODB (Spanish: [ˈxwan maˈnwel ˈsantos kaldeˈɾon]; born 10 August 1951) is a Colombian politician who was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. He was the sole recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.

An economist by training and a journalist by trade, Santos is a member of the wealthy and influential Santos family, who from 1913 to 2007 were the majority shareholders of El Tiempo, Colombia's newspaper of record.

In 1991, Santos was appointed by President César Gaviria Trujillo as Colombia's first Minister of Foreign Trade. In 2000, he was appointed by President Andrés Pastrana Arango as the 64th Minister of Finance and Public Credit.[1]

Santos rose to prominence during the administration of President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, who was elected in 2002. In 2005, Santos co-founded and led the Social Party of National Unity (Party of the U), a liberal-conservative party coalition that backed the policies of President Uribe, successfully supporting his attempt to seek a constitutional reform to be able to run for a second term. In 2006, after Uribe's re-election, when the Party of the U won a majority of seats in the two chambers of Congress, Santos was appointed as Minister of National Defence, and continued defending the security policies of President Uribe, taking a strong and forceful stance against FARC and the other guerrilla groups operating in Colombia. His time at the Ministry of Defense was tarnished by the "False positives" scandal, the executions of thousands of civilians that the army passed off as guerrillas killed in combat.

In 2010, Santos won the presidential election as the protégé of Uribe.[2][3] Some months later, Uribe became his strongest opponent, and also founded three years later the opposition party Democratic Center.[4][5] This rivalry determined both Santos' unpopularity and his near-missed defeat during the 2014 Colombian presidential election against Uribe's protégé Óscar Iván Zuluaga.[6][7]

On 7 October 2016, Santos was announced as recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts negotiating a peace treaty with the FARC-guerrilla in the country, despite his defeat in the referendum held over the deal, where the "No" campaign led by Uribe's Democratic Center won narrowly.[8] The Colombian government and the FARC signed a revised peace deal on 24 November and sent it to Congress for ratification instead of conducting a second referendum.[9] Both houses of Congress ratified the revised peace accord on 29–30 November 2016, marking an end to the conflict. The treaty brought deep divisions and polarization in the country, which questions its legitimacy.[10] Santos has been named as one of Time's 100 most influential people.[11] Santos left office with one of the lowest levels of popular approval ever,[12][13] and his successor was Uribe's new protégé, Iván Duque, a moderate critic of Santos' peace treaty with the FARC guerillas.[14]

  1. ^ "En Sus Puestos". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Bogotá. 18 July 2000. ISSN 0121-9987. OCLC 28894254. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  2. ^ Internet, Unidad Editorial. "Santos: 'Presidente Uribe, éste es su triunfo' | Colombia | elmundo.es". El Mundo. Spain. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  3. ^ Dávila, Vicky (1 April 2018). El nobel (in Spanish). Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Colombia. ISBN 9789585650534.
  4. ^ Restrepo, Estefanía Carvajal. "Las peleas que divorciaron a Uribe y Santos". elcolombiano.com (in European Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  5. ^ "Santos v Uribe". The Economist. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  6. ^ Semana (4 August 2018). "¿Por qué Santos fue tan impopular?". Razones que explican la impopularidad de Juan Manuel Santos. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  7. ^ Mundo, Redacción BBC (13 May 2014). "Colombia: encuesta coloca a Zuluaga derrotando a Santos en primera y segunda vuelta". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  8. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 2016 - Press Release". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  9. ^ "Colombia signs new peace deal with Farc". BBC News. 24 November 2016.
  10. ^ "Colombia's congress approves historic peace deal with FARC rebels". The Washington Post. 30 November 2016.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference time was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Bonces, Eduardo. "Santos termina su Gobierno con una aprobación del 22%". elcolombiano.com (in European Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  13. ^ S.A.S., Editorial La República. "Santos se despide con mínimos de desaprobación" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  14. ^ "Duque: "mi obsesión desde el primer día de Gobierno es la seguridad"". efe.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2018.