Portal 4: Why you think is the most influential Colombian person?

Juan Manuel Santos Calderón: the best president in the history of Colombia.

Santa Rosa de Cabal Thermals - Eje Cafetero

Colombia is a country with more than 45 million inhabitants, 32 departments and a territory of more than 1'150,000 km², among all people there is someone who has been very important for the history of Colombia, especially for the future of Colombia and That someone is Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, president of the country since 2010 to date.

What did Santos do to be the most influential person in the last 50 years?

1.  He created the foundations for peace. He created and signed the peace agreement with the FARC guerrillas (a group on the sidelines of Colombia's largest law with more than 50 years of conflict)

1.1. The peace agreement reduced deaths from armed conflict by 80% compared to 2002 to 2017

1.2 The Peace Agreement left 40% of the municipalities of Colombia without anti-personnel mines or suspected of them

1.3 The Peace Agreement increased the Colombian economy by 1 to 1.5% more than the total GDP.

1.4 3,000 hectares of land returned to the country's peasants.

2. He gave us the first Nobel Peace Prize for the country, being the first Colombian to obtain this award, Dr. Juan Manuel Santos won in 2016 this international recognition, added with four honorary doctorates from prestigious universities worldwide.

3. In his government he rebuilt the town of Gramalote in Norte de Santander which was destroyed by a geological fault in 2010, it was officially delivered in 2016 with 65% of the town built.

4. He made the largest investment in road and air infrastructure in the country, with 1,400km of new 4G highways, 40,000 km intervened in secondary roads, 91 airports intervened to improve them, 273 new bridges in the country.

Cartagena Airport - http://www.eluniversal.com.co/economica/despega-proyecto-de-nuevo-aeropuerto-en-cartagena-226928 

5. In environmental matters he protected 30 of the 37 “paramos” that Colombia has, being almost 41 million hectares which will be protected for the next years

6. In terms of education, it has been the only government in which its largest budget is that of education, which is higher than the war and defense budget; in its program it helped more than 40,000 higher education students to study in the best public and private universities in the country, created free education for more than 8 million children in primary school, built 10,000 classrooms with 2'400,000 free computers for children, thanks to his government there is now 1 computer for every 4 children, before there was only 1 computer for every 24 children.

7. Achieved the inclusion of Colombia in the OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, to which only the 35 most developed and organized countries in the world belong

https://www.oecd.org/latin-america/countries/colombia/#d.en.345234

8. Achieved Colombia's acceptance into North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO

9. He achieved the best international relations of the time, making it possible for more than 91 countries to accept that Colombians travel without a visa, compared to the beginning of their government where only 21 countries accepted this possibility.

In short, Dr. Juan Manuel Santos made Colombia a future-oriented country, which is projected with a more stable economy for entrepreneurs and investors to do their business here, leaving a country with the most favorable image of all time, in which tourism was driven and practically 1 out of every 3 people in the world knows about Colombia because of its landscapes, fauna and flora and not because of the war and drug trafficking. He left a more educated country, where education will always be a priority, he left a developing country and ultimately, he left a better Colombia.

For this and more Dr. Juan Manuel Santos will be remembered as the most influential person in the last 50 years of Colombian history.

Thank u Mr President Juan Manuel Santos! 

Author: Camila Flórez A.

Sociology student.

Fuentes: 
-Periódico El Tiempo: "Santos, un balance de su gobierno", 27 junio 2018, Jaime Escobar, Recuperado de: http://www.eltiempo.com/politica/gobierno/balance-de-gobierno-de-juan-manuel-santos-236668 
-Periódico El Tiempo: "El sol de la paz brilla por fin, en el cielo de Colombia: Santos", 10 diciembre 2016, Recuperado de: http://www.eltiempo.com/politica/proceso-de-paz/juan-manuel-santos-recibe-premio-nobel-de-paz-57172 
-Periódico el Universal: "Santos dice que en su gobierno invirtió 72.221 millones de dólares en educación" 14 junio 2017, Recuperado de: http://www.eluniversal.com.co/colombia/santos-dice-que-su-gobierno-invirtio-72221-millones-de-dolares-en-educacion-255491 
- Periódico el Universal: "Despega proyecto de nuevo aeropuerto en Cartagena" 25 mayo 2016, Hermes Alcazar, Recuperado de: http://www.eluniversal.com.co/economica/despega-proyecto-de-nuevo-aeropuerto-en-cartagena-226928