I first visited Colombia in 2003, six months after President Uribe took office and have been four times since.
I was therefore pleased to read in the WSJ about the success of Santos in the first round of the Colombian elections on Sunday. He will carry on the work of Uribe to make Colombia safe.
Santos is the former Defence Minister of President Uribe, the hugley popular out going leader. Santos was the mastermind behind the audacious rescue of hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt – Vanity Fair had did a great profile on him and the rescue in November 2008.
In January I was at a church conference in Bogota, where he addressed 16,000 people. A very impressive man. He had not yet announced his candidacy for President as the Supreme Court had yet to rule on whether Uribe could stand for a third term.
Colombia’s largest church, Misión Carismática Internacional, actively supports him. Many of their leaders have been elected to public office for the ‘U’ Party, which Santos leads. I explained their support for him in an article I wrote for Christian Today: Pastor politicians campaign for Colombia’s next president.
Upstream Writer 