KU News Release

LAWRENCE — University of Kansas graduate Juan Manuel Santos will be inaugurated as president of the Republic of Colombia on Aug. 7 in Bogota. Santos, who graduated from KU in 1973 with degrees in economics and business, was elected to a four-year term June 20.

Santos, 58, served three years as defense minister to outgoing President Alvaro Uribe. As defense minister, Santos played a role in the 2008 rescue mission that freed Ingrid Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate who was held captive by FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a Marxist rebel group.

Santos is following the footsteps of his great uncle, who was president from 1938 to 1942. The outgoing vice president, Francisco Santos, is his cousin. He also studied at KU, attending classes from 1979 to 1981. The Santos family founded El Tiempo, Colombia’s most influential newspaper, where President-elect Santos worked as an editor before serving as foreign trade and treasury minister in previous administrations.

Colombia, in the northwestern corner of South America, has a population of more than 45 million people.