Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Wins Re-Election
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Wins Re-Election
"It's clear that Santos has a mandate now to continue on the same path he was on," explains COA's Eric Farnsworth as Colombia's president wins Sunday’s election.
BOGOTÁ, Colombia—President Juan Manuel Santos won re-election Sunday in a vote many here saw as a referendum on his peace process with leftist rebels, negotiations he pledges will end a bloody, 50-year conflict.
Mr. Santos, a 62-year-old center-right politician close to the Obama administration, sought a second four-year term on the strength of the negotiations he began 19 months ago in Havana with Marxist rebels. He had cast the election as a vote between war and peace, saying that if he wasn't re-elected, his opponent would swiftly end talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, leaving Colombia with little option than to escalate its simmering conflict....
The election was watched closely in Washington, D.C. The U.S. has through three administrations provided Colombia with about $10 billion in mostly military assistance since 2000 to combat the cocaine trade and erode support for the FARC and other illegal armed groups.
"It's clear that Santos has a mandate now to continue on the same path he was on, and there will be a sigh of relief from many observers inside and outside Colombia," said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas in Washington, a policy group supporting trade in the region.
Mr. Zuluaga's challenge, though, provided "a very strong reminder to Santos that peace at any cost is not acceptable to the Colombian people," Mr. Farnsworth added....
