Stockholm: Efforts by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to end five decades of war in his country were recognised with the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
The award came despite voters’ shock rejection of the terms of a historic deal he reached last month with FARC chief Rodrigo Londono, alias Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez, after nearly four years of talks.
Santos: fighter for peace
Santos, 65, led a major offensive against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) as defense minister from 2006 to 2009.
After becoming president in 2010, he shifted tack and negotiated for a settlement with the guerrillas.
“He made war as a means to achieve peace,” said his brother-in-law and adviser, Mauricio Rodriguez.
“He weakened the FARC to make them sit at the negotiating table.”
The peace drive “required courage, audacity, perseverance and a lot of strategy — those are Santos’s strengths,” Rodriguez added.
Despite fierce opposition to the talks from some former allies, Santos staked his presidency on the peace process.
“I am not looking for applause. I just want to do the right thing,” he said.
He won reelection in 2014 in a vote widely seen as a referendum on the talks.
Santos is the scion of a wealthy, powerful family entrenched in Colombian politics and the media.
He has described himself as politically in the “extreme center.”
He was educated at the London School of Economics and began his career as a journalist, covering the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua as a young man.
He then switched to politics, serving in various ministerial posts.
