Juan Manuel Santos
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Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (Spanish pronunciation: [xwan maˈnwel ˈsantos kaldeˈɾon]; born 10 August 1951) is the President of the Republic of Colombia. He was inaugurated on the 7th August 2010. A Colombian politician, he is a former Minister of National Defense. Santos came into office in the midst of the 2010 Colombia-Venezuela diplomatic crisis, and quickly repaired relations with Venezuela by meeting with Hugo Chavez.
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Early life
Juan Manuel Santos spent most of his childhood in upper class neighborhoods of Bogotá and attended middle school and a part of his high school years at the Colegio San Carlos private school. His last years of high school were spent as a Cadet in the Escuela Naval de Cartagena (Naval Academy of Cartagena), from which he graduated. He continued his studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, obtaining a degree in Economics and Business Administration. While attending the University of Kansas he joined the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. He later acquired master's degrees in Economics, Economic Development and Public Administration in the London School of Economics, in business and journalism from Harvard, and in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Career
Juan Manuel Santos has been Chief Executive of the Colombian Coffee Delegation to the International Coffee Organization in London and Sub-Director of his family owned newspaper El Tiempo. He was Minister of Foreign Trade during the administration of president César Gaviria in 1991. In 1992 he was appointed President of the VII United Nations Conference on Trade and Development for a period of four years. In 1999 he was appointed as President of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and served as Director of the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) for the period 2001–2002.
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. This organization presented a proposal for a demilitarized zone and peace talks with the FARC guerrilla.
Santos also founded the Social National Unity Party (Party of the U) to support the presidency of Álvaro Uribe. He was named Minister of Defense on 19 July 2006. During his tenure as Defense Minister the administration dealt a series of blows against the FARC guerrilla group, including the rescue of Fernando Araújo Perdomo, the death of FARC Secretariat member Raul Reyes in a 2 March 2008 air strike against a guerrilla camp located within Ecuador's borders, and the non-violent rescue of former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt held captive since 2002, along with fourteen other hostages, including three Americans.
Juan Manuel Santos announced his resignation from the Defense 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.
On 20 June 2010, after two rounds of elections, Juan Manuel Santos Calderón was officially elected as President of Colombia.
Controversies
During his time as Defense Minister, many controversial events took place, among them:
- A military raid, on 1 March 2008, inside of Ecuador's territory to kill the FARC leader Raúl Reyes.
- Misuse of an International Committee of the Red Cross symbol during Operation Jaque.
- On 4 November 2008, Santos admitted that the military had carried out extrajudicial executions and pledged to resolve the issue.
These executions were labeled as 'false positives' referring to the fact that members of the military had purposely carried out these executions in order to artificially increase the number of guerrillas killed by the Army and claim rewards from the government.
In March 2010, Santos publicly stated that these executions had stopped since October 2008 and that this had been confirmed by the CINEP, one of Colombia's foremost human rights defense institutions. Semana, a well respected news weekly, 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 Defense Ministry's measures were announced, the period between November 2008 and December 2009 still saw 7 such executions and 2 arbitrary detentions.
Family
Santos is a member of one of Colombia's foremost families. His great-uncle Eduardo Santos was President of Colombia from 1938 to 1942 and the owner and Director of El Tiempo, the country's leading newspaper. His father Enrique Santos Castillo spent over 50 years as editor of the newspaper. His brother Enrique Santos Calderón was Director of the newspaper for 10 years until it was sold to Grupo Planeta of Spain in 2007. His cousin Francisco Santos served as Vice President during Álvaro Uribe's two terms as President of the country. Juan Manuel Santos is married to Maria Clemencia "Tutina" Rodriguez. They have three children: Martín Santos (21 years old), María Antonia Santos (19 years old), and Esteban Santos (16 years old).
References
- ^ "Historical Challenge". Semana International. 2010-08-13. http://www.semana.com/noticias-print-edition/historical-challenge/143004.aspx. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
- ^ "Ex ministro de Defensa de Uribe presenta candidatura presidencial". CNN México. 2010-02-27. http://www.cnnmexico.com/mundo/2010/02/27/ex-ministro-de-defensa-de-uribe-presenta-candidatura-presidencial. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
- ^ "Venezuela Resumes Relations It Severed with Colombia". Latin American International Tribune. 2010-08-11. http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=362587&CategoryId=10717. Retrieved 2010-08-19.
- ^ a b ":: Presidencia de la República de Colombia ::". Presidencia.gov.co. http://www.presidencia.gov.co/prensa_new/ministerios/defensa.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
- ^ International Coffee Organization
- ^ Fundacion Buen Gobierno. "Portal de Fundacion Buen Gobierno". Buengobierno.com. http://www.buengobierno.com/. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
- ^ "Juan Manuel Santos - Biografia Y Fotos". ColombiaLink.com. http://www.colombialink.com/01_INDEX/index_personajes/politica/santos_juan_manuel.html. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
- ^ "Fundación Buengobierno". http://web.archive.org/web/19990202054420/www.buengobi.org/Hojavida.htm.
- ^ "Propuesta de Paz". http://web.archive.org/web/19990209033413/www.buengobi.org/paz.htm.
- ^ "CNN news". Edition.cnn.com. 2008-03-06. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/03/05/oas.colombia/index.html. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
- ^ By Karl Penhaul CNN. "CNN News". Cnn.com. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/07/15/colombia.red.cross/index.html. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
- ^ "Source El Espectador". Elespectador.com. 2008-11-04. http://elespectador.com/articulo88049-el-mindefensa-reconoce-ejecuciones-extrajudiciales. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
- ^ "Source Semana". Semana.com. http://www.semana.com/noticias-conflicto-armado/cinep-santos-falsos-positivos-no-han-dejado-problema/136830.aspx. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
- ^ "Santos dice a los colombianos: "No les fallaré, no los voy a defraudar"". Elespectador.com. 2010-06-20. http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/politica/articulo-209478-santos-dice-los-colombianos-no-les-fallare-no-los-voy-defraudar. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Juan Manuel Santos |
- Biography by CIDOB Foundation
- Taking Colombia to the Next Level Latin Business Chronicle
- Banco de la República - Juan Manuel Santos
- Interview with Cambio
- Colombialink.com - Juan Manuel Santos
- Presidencia de Colombia - Juan Manuel Santos
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