Juan Manuel Santos Nobel Peace Prize: Colombian President Wins Award For Efforts To End FARCs

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.

According to NobelPrize.org, Santos was awarded the prestigious honor for “his resolute efforts to bring the country's more than 50-year-long civil war to an end, a war that has cost the lives of at least 220 000 Colombians and displaced close to six million people.”

Mr. Santos made history by becoming the first ever Colombian-born person to receive the honor. Furthermore, Santos is the first Latin American winner of the Nobel Peace Prize since Rigoberta Menchú of Guatemala back in 1992.

“By awarding this year's Peace Prize to President Juan Manuel Santos, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to encourage all those who are striving to achieve peace, reconciliation and justice in Colombia. The president himself has made it clear that he will continue to work for peace right up until his very last day in office. The Committee hopes that the Peace Prize will give him strength to succeed in this demanding task. Furthermore, it is the Committee's hope that in the years to come the Colombian people will reap the fruits of the ongoing peace and reconciliation process. Only then will the country be able to address effectively major challenges such as poverty, social injustice and drug-related crime,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in a statement.

Colombia has been involved in intense internal struggles for decades, and President Santos has been looking for a way to end that. Although the Colombian Conflict is still ongoing, the Norwegian Nobel Committee thoroughly recognizes the strong efforts made by Santos to bring an end to said struggle.