Oslo, Norway, Oct 7, 2016 / 15:19 pm
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to secure peace with the FARC rebel group, despite the rejection of a proposed peace deal in a national referendum.
"I am infinitely grateful for this honorable distinction with all my heart," President Santos said Oct. 7. "I accept it not on my behalf but on behalf of all Colombians, especially the millions of victims of this conflict which we have suffered for more than 50 years."
"It is for the victims and so that there not be a single new victim, not a single new casualty that we must reconcile and unite to culminate this process and begin to construct a stable and durable peace," he added.
Since 1964, when the FARC uprising began, as many as 260,000 people have been killed and millions displaced in Colombia's civil war.