Santos pledged his full support to the armed forces, but promised to ensure that they operate with ‘full respect for human rights’. The claim failed to convince human rights organisations, which point to the fact that Santos was Minister of Defence between 2005-2008, when the bulk of the three thousand cases of extrajudicial executions which are being investigated by Colombian prosecutors took place. The scandal of the ‘false positives’ saw state forces murder civilians then dress them up in combat fatigues to present them as guerrilla combatants. In Chile’s military dictatorship, 3000 people were murdered between 1979 and 1990.
The President-elect also stated that his priority would be to continue to create jobs, whilst also vowing to improve relations with Colombia’s neighbours. Last year an Ecuadorian judge issued an arrest warrant for Santos in relation to an attack by Colombia in 2008, when Colombian commandos crossed the border into Ecuador to attack a camp of FARC rebels, deep in the jungle.
Santos vowed that there will be no negotiation in the armed conflict with FARC guerrillas, and that the only option is to continue to fight the FARC until they surrender. Despite widespread human rights violations, these hardline security policies continue to be popular amongst an electorate suspicious and hostile towards the FARC, which Amnesty International says also systematically violates human rights.
Many have pointed to widespread vote-buying and fraud in the election process in seeking to explain Santos’ victory. However, the margin of the victory is also testament to the success of President Uribe’s 2 administrations, with the help of partisan national media, in shifting public opinion to the right, despite a string of high-profile corruption scandals and international condemnation for its disdain for human rights.