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Latin American Program in the News: Americas summit host, Colombian President Santos, ambitious for wider clout as regional leader

Cindy Arnson

As the date of the Americas Summit comes closer, the leadership role of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos in the region, has been under deep scrutiny. Dr. Arnson says that Santos "has adopted a much more pragmatic and distant approach".

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Santos has risked Washington's good graces as he assuages neighbors. He extradited, for example, an alleged major Venezuelan drug trafficker back to his homeland even though he was wanted by the United States.

"In contrast to the very solicitous relationship that Uribe had, Santos has adopted a much more pragmatic and distant approach," said Cynthia Arnson, Latin America director at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.

That included shelving an agreement made under Uribe to expand the U.S. military footprint at Colombian bases.

Yet Santos, a social progressive but military hawk who was defense minister in 2006-2009, can boast of making Latin America's fourth most-populous nation a lot safer.

Afflicted by the mayhem of drug cartels in the 1990s, when leftist rebels controlled about half the national territory, Colombia is now a country where a U.S. president finally feels comfortable enough to spend a night.

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About the Author

Cindy Arnson

Cynthia J. Arnson

Distinguished Fellow and Former Director, Latin America Program
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Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more