Colombia's Santos wins re-election, to continue peace talks

[WhiteTara]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won a second term on Sunday with an election victory that allows him to continue peace talks with Marxist guerrillas to end a half-century war.

Santos beat right-wing challenger Oscar Ivan Zuluaga with about 50.9 percent support after a bitter campaign that challenged voters to decide between the incumbent's pursuit of negotiated peace or a likely escalation of combat under his rival.

Zuluaga won about 45 percent support. Votes had been counted from more than 99 percent of polling stations, meaning Santos' victory was secure.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/15/us-colombia-election-idUSKBN0EQ17D20140615

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Another push back.

[Louisiana1976]

1. Good. I was rooting for Santos because of his effort to bring peace to Colombia.

Also, I saw a post which went into Zuluaga's positions and his views would be compatible with an American Tea Bag Republican.

[WhiteTara]

2. Sometimes peace wins

Not frequently, but enough that we have hope for a future.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

9. Often in Columbia the only peace the leadership offers is the peace of the grave.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Thank you, WhiteTara. I was really worried about finding out today.

Nothing could have been worse than the other one winning, after all the time invested in the peace process. Nothing.

Thanks for getting the much better news out.

[WhiteTara]

4. It was really my pleasure

I am often the bearer of bad news and feel like Cassandra and today my peace prayers were answered. There may be hope for the world yet.

What country are you in? I want to go to Chile and have been hinting and working toward that with my beloved, who is an English speaker only and feels he is too old to learn another language...I will be his translator; just as I was for my mother when I was 3.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Let's hope this peace summit will succeed. They are near the last part of it now.

So far, so good, it's desperately needed, even though their right wing, and Zuluaga WAS supported by the US, incidently, the current President presents the only time a Colombian President has earnestly pursued PEACE, rather than continuing US mega-funding for their war against the poor of Colombia, the ones who are suffering.

I live in the US. There are several DU'ers who have lived extensively in Chile. Hope one of them will see your post, as they've been very forthcoming about their experiences there in previous conversations.

Chile seems absolutely beautiful, breathtakingly so. It could be the stunningly beautiful mountainous regions in Chile that made themselves irresistible to Nazis looking for places to hide after the Second World War! (I think they're all too old to be too dangerous now, if there are any left up there!) Very, very beautiful.

[WhiteTara]

7. I love the fact that the coast is a whale sanctuary

and that there are steps to create a sustainable lifestyle. I love my country, but I long for something that I don't know what.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. Why did I read that as "a WHITE sancuary"?

[WhiteTara]

17. you're looking for a place to hide?

I'd love to hide there too.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. It ain't my idea of a happy hunting ground.

[Judi Lynn]

12. That is such a great, decent national act from Chile.

Doing something like that here would REALLY make so many US citizens deeply, DEEPLY proud.

It's sad, however, realizing there are a lot of scums, however, who would resent going "soft" on whales, giving them a better chance to survive.

Crazy, isn't it?

[The Magistrate]

6. Good News, Ma'am

[WhiteTara]

8. My pleasure to say something good! nt

[bemildred]

10. Good. nt

[Judi Lynn]

13. Commentary from a Colombian citizen: Why I couldn’t possibly vote for Zuluaga

Why I couldn’t possibly vote for Zuluaga
Jun 13, 2014 posted by Nicolas Bedoya

Two family members of mine were assassinated in a tucked away town called San Carlos, Antioquia. Paramilitary groups that were linked with presidential candidate Oscar Ivan Zuluaga’s patron, Alvaro Uribe, killed my cousin and uncle in some of the most merciless ways possible.

My uncle, Mariano Bedoya, was shot six times in the back and my cousin, Victor Velasquez, was beheaded and thrown into the San Carlos reservoir by the paramilitaries.

According to ‘Verdad Abierta,’ the town of San Carlos suffered the third highest number of registered massacres in Antioquia behind Medellin and Turbo (both of which are cities) and the sixth highest number in all of Colombia.

The National Historic Commission for Memory, Reparation, and Reconciliation wrote over 400 pages on San Carlos alone stating that, “The recent history of San Carlos condenses the horrors of the Colombian conflict. All the armed actors with all their strategies of war were present in this town of Eastern Antioquia.”

More:
http://colombiareports.co/wont-vote-zuluaga/

[Jack Rabbit]

14. ¡La paz, sí; Uribe, no!

¡¡!!

[Overseas]

15. K&R. Glad to hear it.

[COLGATE4]

16. Colombians have a saying

"Mejor malo conocido que bueno pa' conocer". English equivalent: "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't". Seems to sum up the election results pretty well.

[Zorra]

18. Good news! Recommend. nt