Aneconomist by training and ajournalist by trade, Santos is a member of the wealthy and influential Santos family, who from 1913 to 2007 were themajority shareholders ofEl Tiempo, Colombia's newspaper of record.
Santos rose to prominence during the administration of PresidentÁlvaro Uribe Vélez, who was elected in 2002. In 2005, Santos co-founded and led theSocial Party of National Unity (Party of the U), aliberal-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 ofCongress, Santos was appointed asMinister of National Defence, and continued defending the security policies of President Uribe, taking a strong and forceful stance againstFARC and theother 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.
On 7 October 2016, Santos was announced as recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts negotiating apeace treaty with the FARC-guerrilla in the country, despite his defeat in thereferendum 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 revisedpeace 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 ofTime'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]
Santos was born in Bogotá, Colombia. He attendedColegio San Carlos,[15] aprivatesecondary school inBogotá, where he spent most of his school years until 1967, when he enlisted in theColombian Navy and transferred to the Admiral Padilla Naval Cadet School inCartagena, graduating from it in 1969, and continuing in the Navy until 1971, finishing with the rank of naval cadet NA-42z 139.[16]
After leaving the Navy, Santos moved to the United States where he attended theUniversity of Kansas. A member ofDelta Upsilon fraternity,[17] he graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor in Economics and Business Administration.[18] On 31 October 2017, Santos received an honorary doctorate of human letters from KU.[19]
In 1994 Juan Manuel Santos founded the Good Government Foundation, whose stated objective is helping and improving the governability and efficiency of the Colombian Government.[28][29][30] This organization presented a proposal for a demilitarized zone and peace talks with theFARC guerrilla group.[31] Juan Manuel Santos has been named as one ofTime magazine's 100 most influential people.[11]Universidade NOVA de Lisboa is granting the Honoris Causa Doctorate title to Juan Manuel Santos.[32]
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Santos also founded theSocial Party of National Unity (Party of the U) to support thepresidency ofÁlvaro Uribe.[33] He was namedMinister of Defence on 19 July 2006. During his tenure as Defence Minister, the administration dealt a series of blows against theFARC guerrilla group, including the rescue ofFernando Araújo Perdomo, the death of FARC Secretariat memberRaúl Reyes (a controversial military raid onEcuador's border),[34] and the non-violent rescue of former presidential candidateIngrid Betancourt held captive since 2002, along with fourteen other hostages, including three Americans.[35][36]
In 2008 the'false positives' scandal was uncovered, referring to revelations concerning extrajudicial executions carried out by members of the military in order to artificially increase the number of guerrillas killed by the Army and claim rewards from the government.[37] On 4 November 2008, Santos admitted that the military had carried out extrajudicial executions and he pledged to resolve the issue.[38] Twenty-seven military officers, including three generals and eleven colonels, were sacked after an internal army investigation concluded that they were responsible for administrative failures and irregularities in reporting enemy casualties and operational results.[39] The Commander of theColombian National Army, GeneralMario Montoya, resigned.[40] By May 2009, 67 soldiers had been found guilty and over 400 were arrested pending trial.[41]
There are different estimates for the number of civilians who may have been murdered in this manner. As of May 2009, prosecutors were investigating more than 900 cases involving over 1,500 victims and 1,177 members of the Colombian security forces.[41][42] According to theCoordinación Colombia-Europa-Estados Unidos NGO coalition and theFundación para la Educación y el Desarrollo, an estimated 3,756 extrajudicial murders occurred between 1994 and 2009, of which 3,084 cases would have taken place after 2002.[43][44]
Families of the victims and non-governmental organisations have held theUribe administration and Santos, as Defence Minister, responsible for the extrajudicial murders because they consider that the government's reward policies motivated the crimes.[43][44] Directive 029 of 2005 issued under Defence Minister Camilo Ospina Bernal and presidential decree 1400 of May 2006 have been questioned for offering incentives and benefits in exchange for capturing or killing members of illegal armed groups.[42][44]
In June 2009,United Nations Special RapporteurPhilip Alston declared that extrajudicial executions had been carried out in a "more or less systematic manner" by numerous Colombian military personnel and found the number of trials for those implicated to be lacking, but stated that he had found no evidence of the executions being an official government policy and acknowledged a decrease in the number of reported cases.[45]
In March 2010, Santos publicly stated these executions had stopped since October 2008 and that this had been confirmed by the CINEP, one of Colombia's foremost human rights defence institutions.Semana, a well-respected weekly magazine, reported that a few days later the CINEP responded to Santos's declarations by issuing a press release which stated that, while the number of reported cases had been significantly reduced after the Defence Ministry's measures were announced, the period between November 2008 and December 2009 still saw 7 such executions and 2 arbitrary detentions.[46]
Juan Manuel Santos announced his resignation from the Defence Ministry on 18 May 2009. Santos said that his resignation did not necessarily imply tossing his hat into the 2010 presidential race and that his participation in the electoral race depended on whether Uribe would pursue a third term, which he was willing to support. His resignation took effect on 23 May 2009. When the Constitutional Court ruled out the possibility of Uribe's participation in the upcoming elections, Santos officially launched his campaign for the presidency of the Republic of Colombia.[47]
Santos announced on 27 August 2012 that the Colombian government had engaged in exploratory talks withFARC in order to seek an end to the conflict.[49][50] He also said that he would learn from the mistakes of previous leaders, who failed to secure a lasting ceasefire with FARC, though the military would still continue operations throughout Colombia while talks continued.[49] According to an unnamed Colombian intelligence source, Santos offered FARC assurances that no one would be extradited to stand trial in another country.[51] The move has been viewed as a cornerstone of Santos' presidency. Former President Uribe has criticised Santos for seeking peace "at any costs" in contrast to his predecessor's rejection of talks.[52]
In October 2012, Santos received the Shalom Prize "for his commitment to seeking peace in his country and worldwide." Upon accepting the award from the Latin American chapter of the World Jewish Congress, Santos stated that "Both the people here and the people in Israel have been seeking peace for decades," adding that Colombia is in favour of atwo-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[53][54]
In September 2016, Santos announced that an agreement had been made completely settling the dispute between the Colombian government and FARC on the basis of atruth and reconciliation-like process, in which a combination of complete admissions of guilt and community service on the part of perpetrators of misdeeds during the years of conflict would serve in place of retributive justice.[55]
The 52-year Colombian war has cost the country 152 billion (USD), according to conflict monitoring NGO Indepaz. Within the last five years the daily cost of the war has escalated to US$9.3 million per day – enough to feed 3 million people in Colombia and wipe out extreme poverty in that country.[56]
In May 2017, U.S. PresidentDonald Trump and Santos held a joint news conference at the White House, where Trump praised Colombia's efforts to end a 52-year civil war that left more than 220,000 dead as a "great thing to watch."[57]
Around that time, it was reported that Trump had an "unusual meeting with former presidentsAlvaro Uribe andAndres Pastrana" at his Florida resortMar-a-Lago, lending weight to suspicion that Santos's political enemies were enlisting Trump's support against the historic peace accord.[58] The event was widely reported in Colombia, yet never announced by the White House.
In September 2017, Santos defended Colombia's record against Trump's complaints about what he called unacceptable growth in coca cultivation and production.[59][60] Trump added that he considered downgrading the country in a White House assessment, which would result in reduced development and security funding. One source of contention is the usage ofglyphosate to eradicate coca crops, which Colombia had halted in favor of other methods due to health concerns.[60]
Colombia defended its anti-narcotics efforts after the threat of Trump to decertify the country as a partner in counter-narcotics efforts.
For more than 30 years Colombia has demonstrated its commitment – paying a very high cost in human lives – with overcoming the drug problem. This commitment stems from the profound conviction that the consumption, production and trafficking of drugs constitute a serious threat to the well-being and security of citizens. Colombia is undoubtedly the country that has fought the most drugs and with more successes on this front. No one has to threaten us to meet this challenge.
The problem of drugs is global. Overcoming it can only be achieved through cooperation and under the principle of joint responsibility. Consumer countries' authorities have a fundamental responsibility to their fellow citizens and the world to reduce consumption and to attack trafficking and distribution organizations in their own countries.
In July 2018, Santos called on Trump to urge Russian presidentVladimir Putin to stop supporting Venezuela's authoritarian government.[62] Santos has acknowledged that, in 2017, Trump raised the idea of amilitary invasion of Venezuela to drive out PresidentNicolas Maduro, which he and other Latin American leaders rejected at the time.[63]
During a Google hangout hosted by the Colombian newspaperEl Tiempo on 20 May 2014, Santos voiced his support forsame-sex marriage, saying: "Marriage between homosexuals to me is perfectly acceptable and what's more I am defending unions that exist between two people of the same sex with the rights and all of the same privileges that this union should receive."[64]
On 20 November 2013, Santos announced his intent to run for re-election in a presidential address,[65] and formalized his intent by filing election papers with theNational Civil Registry on 25 November.[66][67] As the incumbent president he ran virtually unopposed in the Social Party of National Unity convention, receiving 772 votes of the 787 party delegates, and receiving the party's nomination on 28 January 2014.[68] Santos and his allies also lobbied for the support of other political parties, receiving the nomination from the Liberal andRadical Change parties,[69][70] forming the National Unity Coalition.
On 12 March Santos officially launched his re-election campaign for the 2014 presidential election under the slogan: "We have done much, there is much to be done".[71] On 24 February, Santos announced that the running mate for his 2014 reelection campaign would be isGermán Vargas Lleras, a veteran politician from one of Colombia's most powerful political dynasties, and his formerMinister of Housing, City and Territory. The decision to replace Vice President Garzón as his running mate was an expected one, as Garzón had already announced his desire to retire from politics.
On 15 May, Santos obtained 25.69% of the votes, falling behind his main rival,Óscar Iván Zuluaga Escobar of theDemocratic Center, who obtained 29.25% of the votes. Since no one candidate earned the required majority, a run-off election was announced. In the second round, Santos received the backing and support of his former electoral rival:Clara López Obregón of theAlternative Democratic Pole,[72] as well from dissident members of the Conservative andGreen parties.
On 15 June, Santos won 50.95% of the popular vote in the second round of the election. President Santos addressed supporters and volunteers gathered at the campaign's headquarters in the Claustro de La Enseñanza after his reelection and said: "This is the end of 50 years of conflict in this country, and it is the beginning of a new Colombia". Santos's victory, which was much smaller than his landslide result in 2010, was credited with strategic endorsements from left-wing politicians such as Clara López who appeared on a T.V. endorsement for Santos despite having nearly polar opposite views on many issues. This helped Santos, who had been neck and neck with his Conservative challenger on polls up to the second election round. Many among the Left whose fortunes had declined since the start of the FARC insurgency hoped a peaceful negotiation with FARC, which required a Santos victory, would help rehabilitate the left among the Conservative-Liberal dominated political scene in Colombia.
In November 2017, an investigation conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism claimed Juan Manuel Santos was in control of two offshore companies inBarbados.[74] Following this, Santos clarified that he left the managing board of one of these companies before holding a ministerial office.[75]
Following the end of his second term, Santos was named as the fourthAngelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellowship program at theHarvard Kennedy School, where he served through the spring semester.[76]
Santos is the son of Enrique Santos Castillo and his wife Clemencia Calderón Nieto,[77] his brothers are: Enrique, Luis Fernando, and Felipe.[78] The Santos family has been a well established and influential family since the mid-20th century; his great-great-grandaunt wasMaría Antonia Santos Plata, a martyr of the Independence of Colombia, and his great-granduncle wasEduardo Santos Montejo,[79] President of Colombia between 1938 and 1942, who acquired the national newspaperEl Tiempo. From there, his family has been connected to the newspaper and influenced the political life of the country; Eduardo's brother, Enrique, grandfather of Juan Manuel, andeditor in chief ofEl Tiempo, was known as "Calibán" to his readers, and his three sons, Enrique (Juan Manuel's father) and Hernando Santos Castillo, and Enrique Santos Molano were chief editor, director, and columnist respectively. Through his father's brother, Hernando, and his mother's sister, Elena, Juan Manuel is alsofirst cousin on both sides toFrancisco Santos Calderón, formerVice President of Colombia during the previous administration from 2002 to 2010.[79][80] His first cousin Alberto Calderón Palau is the father of racing driverTatiana Calderón.
Santos first married Silvia Amaya Londoño, a film director and television presenter, but divorced three years later having no children together.[80][81] He then marriedMaría Clemencia Rodríguez Múnera, or "Tutina" as she is known to those close to her, anindustrial designer he had met while she worked as a private secretary at theMinistry of Communications and he was Deputy Director ofEl Tiempo.[81] Together they had three children, Martín (born 1989), María Antonia (born 1991), and Esteban (born 1993).[82][83]
The2016 Nobel Peace Prize[84] was awarded to the President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos "for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end, a war that has cost the lives of at least 220,000 Colombians and displaced close to six million people."
National Geographic Society Honors President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia for his Unwavering Commitment to Conservation. President Santos has done more than many elected leaders in the Americas to expand protected areas.[101]
A new plant species from Northeastern Colombia has been namedEspeletia praesidentis, in honour of efforts made by President Santos to build peace.[106]
Santos Calderón, Juan Manuel (2009).Jaque al Terror: Los Años Horribles de las FARC (2nd, illustrated. ed.). Bogotá: Planeta.ISBN9789584223029.OCLC605944076.
^abGarcía Vásquez, Julio Cesar (14 August 2009). "Francisco Y Juan Manuel Santos Calderon, Familiares Y Parentela".Genealogía Colombiana, Volumen IV [Francisco and Juan Manuel Santos Calderon, Family and Kin] (in Spanish). Interconexion Colombia. Archived fromthe original on 3 May 2010. Retrieved1 October 2010.
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