Colombian president wins Nobel Peace Prize.
Five days after the worst defeat of his political career, Colombian President Juan Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to end a half-century of civil war. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said that Santos was honored because of his landmark attempt to stamp out one of the world’s longest-running conflicts, which has killed more than 220,000 people and driven at least 7 million from their homes since 1964. The award, however, was a surprise because Colombians voted Sunday against the peace accord. Many saw the agreement as giving far too many concessions to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Many publications and officials suspected that he wouldn’t win after voters sunk the deal by a narrow margin. According to the Washington Post, the committee moved forward, despite the vote, to offer a boost to further peace intiatives between the government and the FARC rebels. Santos’ award was celebrated in Colombia, whose only previous winner was the late novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the recipient of the 1982 prize in literature. Santos dedicated his prize to the Colombian people and the millions who have suffered from the bloodshed. Norway had a special stake in this year’s peace prize. Its government, together with Cuba, has essentially served a mediator role throughout four years of painstaking talks. Other award recipients include Japan-born Yoshinori Ohsumi, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology; David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane, and J. Michael Kosterlitz, who were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics; and Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa, who were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Nobel Prizes, established by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel in 1895, have recognized achievements in academic, cultural and scientific advancements. The Nobel prizes in literature and economics have yet to be announced.