Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

Juan Manuel Santos Calderon, the president of Columbia, listens to a panel discussion during the 2015 Clinton Global Initiative’s Annual Meeting at in New York City on September 28, 2

Juan Manuel Santos, the president of Colombia, was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for his “resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end.”

The surprise announcement comes less than a week after Colombian voters delivered a shocking blow to the peace process, and the award notably excludes any leaders of the FARC guerilla group, the other side of the negotiating table.

But the prize committee says 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.”