Juan Manuel Santos
Juan Manuel Santos
Juan Manuel Santos Calderónis the 32nd and current President of Colombia, in office since 2010. He was Minister of Defence from 2006 to 2009...
NationalityColombian
ProfessionWorld Leader
Date of Birth10 August 1951
CityBogota, Colombia
CountryColombia
No one, no one has hit the FARC harder than I have.
military support navy
I have the complete support of the military. I personally served in the navy.
enemy making-peace
One doesn't make peace with one's friends. One makes peace with one's enemies.
strong democracy colombia
It's in the interest of the U.S. to maintain a strong democracy in Colombia.
war years drug
Right here, in this same headquarters, 52 years ago, the Convention that gave the birth certificate to the war on drugs was approved
optimistic realizing worst
More than 70 percent of Colombians want peace. The rest are afraid of the price to be paid. But even they will realize that their worst fears will not come true. I'm quite optimistic that Colombians do back an agreement with the FARC.
country light president
I remember in 2000, when President Clinton came to Cartagena just before Plan Colombia started, the country was on the verge of becoming a failed state. Today, we are one of the most solid democracies, where institutions are working, where the scandals such as false positives have come to light because of those functioning institutions.
latin europe america
Europe would be well advised to pay more attention to Latin America. The emerging economies are the engines of the global economy. Colombia has done too little to improve its reputation in Europe.
country party america
I have had extremely good relations with the United States and with both parties (Republicans and Democrats), and I hope to continue to have these good relations, which I, again repeating, do not consider to be mutually exclusive with having good relations with Venezuela or Ecuador or whichever country in South America.
priorities
Social housing, education, health, jobs and sustainable surroundings. Those are my priorities.
good-friend
Good friends don't have to visit each other every day.
country war sacrifice
I say this as the president of the country which has suffered more deaths, more blood and more sacrifices in this war
loyalty country thinking
Uribe and I have very good relations. I owe him loyalty, I admire him, he did great things for our country, and I think that because of what he did, I can now concentrate on different issues, different from what he concentrated on.
war compromise
Waging war is much more popular than negotiating, because there you need to compromise.