Santos: – Peace is the real price

Nobel Peace Prize 2016 to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.Oslo.Nobel Peace Prize 2016 to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.Photo : Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

For many Colombians, peace found to be an impossible dream just a few years ago, stressed Prize winner Juan Manuel Santos in his Nobel prize speech.

– Just six years ago, we dared Colombians not to imagine the end of a war we had suffered for half a century.

Today, after six difficult years of serious and occasionally intense negotiations, I can tell you and the world – with deep humility, gratitude and with the support of our friends all over the globe – that the Colombian people are trying to make impossible as possible, Santos said in the speech in Oslo City Hall on Saturday.

In his speech, which was held in Spanish, Santos said that both Colombians and the world were surprised when a referendum two months ago, ended with a no to the peace agreement with the FARC.

Four days later, the awarding of the Nobel peace prize announced, and Santos said the news came as a gift from above.

– At a time when our ship seemed to be in free operation, the peace prize came down like wind that brought us to our destination: peace haven!

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today