Santos Wins 2nd Term as Colombia’s Prez

Juan Manuel Santos secured his second term as president of Colombia in one of the tightest races in the country’s history. With 50.9 percent of the vote, Santos beat out his right-wing rival Oscar Iván Zuluaga, who nabbed 45 percent. The hotly contested election centered on peace talks with leftist guerrillas. Santos began peace talks with leftist FARC rebels in 2012 and announced he would start talks with ELN, another rebel group, shortly prior to the election. Much of Zuluaga’s campaign was focused on slamming Santos for cooperating with the guerrilla groups, which have a history of murdering and kidnapping Colombians. However, Santos’ victory is seen as a sign of the nation’s approval of the talks. In front of cheering crowd, many of whom had “paz” (peace) written on their hands, Santos said “Colombians have voted for the hope of swapping fear for peace.”