Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Gets Nobel Peace Prize

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end the country’s long-running—and ongoing—conflict with rebels in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The Nobel committee announced the prize Friday in Oslo. In a statement, the committee said Santos had won the prize 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.” The statement also said, “The award should also be seen as a tribute to the Colombian people who, despite great hardships and abuses, have not given up hope of a just peace, and to all the parties who have contributed to the peace process. This tribute is paid, not least, to the representatives of the countless victims of the civil war.” Earlier this week, voters in Colombia rejected the latest attempt at a peace deal between their government and FARC. Santos had spent four years negotiating the deal.