The president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2016 for negotiating a peace treaty with the guerillas in the country to end 52 years of conflict with a leftist rebel group, the longest-running war in the Americas, despite the unsuccessful referendum held over the deal

The decision to give the prize to the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, may revive hopes for the agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, with whom the country has been waging the last major guerrilla struggle in Latin America.

DO YOU KNOW?

• Juan Manuel Santos is the 32nd and current President of Colombia. Santos was born in Bogotá, Colombia. He is an economist by profession and a journalist by trade.
• He graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor in Economics and Business Administration.
• After graduating from the University of Kansas, Santos served as Chief Executive of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia to the International Coffee Organization in London.
• He was Minister of Foreign Trade of Colombia during the administration of President César Gaviria Trujillo from 1991 to 1994, Minister of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia during the administration of President Andres Pastrana Arango from 2000 to 2002.
• In 1992 he was appointed President of the VIII United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
• In 1994 Juan Manuel Santos founded the Good Government Foundation, whose stated objective is helping and improving the governability and efficiency of the Colombian Government.
•  This organization presented a proposal for a demilitarized zone and peace talks with the FARC guerrilla group.