Juan Manuel Santos will be the next president of Colombia and that's good news.
Today, The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal agree that this is a good decision for Colombia and the US.
The Washington Post has a question: Will Washington treat Colombia's Santos as an ally?
"So the question raised by Mr. Santos's election is whether the Obama administration and Democratic congressional leaders will greet this strong and needed U.S. ally with open arms -- or with the arms-length disdain and protectionist stonewalling to which they subjected his predecessor, Álvaro Uribe.
Mr. Uribe will leave office in August as one of the most successful presidents in modern Latin American history, though you would never know it from listening to his critics in Washington"
The Wall Street Journal got it right: Colombia Speaks-----But will President Obama listen?
Will Pres BO admit that our policy toward Colombia is wrong headed and determined by the labor unions?
My friend Jose Brechner, a political analyst and guest on our radio show, wrote this comment for our blog:
"The outstanding victory of Juan Manuel Santos with 69% of the votes, over his contender Antanas Mockus who obtained 29.5% in the presidential elections, is a major blow to the left wing politicians and the FARC guerrilla in Colombia.
Both candidates, Santos and Mockus, are in the right of center. Their real differences are mainly a matter of style rather than ideology.
In the final round before the elections, Mockus turned slightly to the left.
These elections define a necessary change in South American politics, plagued by the extreme left, governing in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay."
We agree with Jose that Colombia has sent the right message.
Cecilia Torres, another good friend of our radio show, wrote this for our blog:
Under his command as Minister of Defense in the Uribe administration two of the most successful operations were undertaken resulting in the destruction of the FARC's camp in northern Ecuador and the death of the second in command of the FARC - Raul Reyes - and also operation Jaque that resulted in freeing 11 hostages, including 3 Americans and other prominent Colombians like Ingrid Betancourt.
Santos knows Colombia and its problems and is expected to follow most of Uribe's policies for "seguridad ciudadana"."
It's time to "engage" Colombia and line up with our strongest ally in Latin America today.
Again, how much longer should we wait for the Pres BO to delay the Colombia Free Trade Agreement?
