President Obama and top administration officials celebrated Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Friday for his selection as this year’s winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace. The award comes four years into State Department-moderated negotiations between the Colombian government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
“As Colombia turns away from the longest-running war in the Western Hemisphere, this award is a testament to President Santos’ unwavering, courageous leadership through years of difficult negotiations,” Obama said in a statement Friday evening.
Vice President Joe Biden echoed Obama’s sentiment, calling the award an honor for Santos as well as the entire nation that is striving for peace despite recent setbacks.
Last Sunday, Colombians voted against a referendum that would have confirmed the truce. By less than one percentage point, Colombia’s two decades of pursuing a truce with rebel fighters was blocked. Former President Alvaro Uribe had led the opposition movement of citizens who said their needs were not recognized in the truce, prompting half the country to vote against the deal.
“In a plebiscite on October 2, the Colombian people failed by a narrow margin to approve the agreement between their government and the FARC. We recognize and respect that decision,” State Secretary John Kerry said.
Kerry also applauded Santos’ response to the failed vote, “reaching out to all sectors inside his country, including those who voted no on the agreement, to listen to their views and seek a new national consensus that would enable the peace process to move forward.”
Obama called this week’s vote “a sign that the national dialogue Colombia needs is taking place now and is building on the momentum created by four years of difficult negotiations.” The president promised continued support from the U.S.
“The United States was proud to support the negotiations in Havana, and to announce a new chapter in our relationship – Peace Colombia, which will continue our bipartisan tradition of support to Colombia by providing a framework to reinforce security gains, reintegrate former combatants into society and extend opportunity and the rule of law,” Obama said.
In a new interview with the Nobel Committee, Santos said receiving the award was as much of a personal honor as it was one for the entire country.
“The message is we have to persevere until we reach the end, we reach the end of this war. We are very, very close. We just need to push a bit further, to persevere, and this is going to be a great stimulus to reach that end, and to start the construction of peace in Colombia,” Santos said.
“This is something that all the Colombian people will receive with emotion and especially the victims will be very happy because I think it’s in their name that this award is given.”
