Juan Manuel Santos
Wiki, Facts

 Juan Manuel Santos facts

• An economist by profession and a journalist by trade, Santos is a member of the wealthy and influential Santos family, who from 1913 to 2007 were the majority shareholders of the newspaper El Tiempo until its sale to Planeta DeAgostini in 2007
• Shortly after graduating from the University of Kansas, he joined the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia as an economic advisor and delegate to the International Coffee Organization in London, where he also attended the London School of Economics
• In 1981, he was appointed deputy director of El Tiempo newspaper, becoming its director two years later
• Santos earned a mid-career/master's in public administration in 1981 from Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and was a 1988 Nieman Fellow for his award-winning work as a columnist and reporter
• Santos was a Fulbright visiting fellow at Fletcher at Tufts University in 1981
• In 1991, he was appointed by President César Gaviria Trujillo as Colombia's first Minister of Foreign Trade
• Santos worked in expanding international trade with Colombia, and worked in creating various agencies for this purpose including: Proexport, Bancoldex and Fiducoldex
• In 2000, he was appointed by President Andrés Pastrana Arango as the 64th Minister of Finance and Public Credit
• Santos rose to prominence during the Administration of President Álvaro Uribe Vélez
• In 2005, he co-founded and led the Social Party of National Unity (Party of the U), a liberal-conservative party coalition that backed the policies of President Uribe, successfully supporting his attempt to seek a Constitutional reform to be able to run for a second term