Wall Street Journal Thinks Uribe Should Win Nobel Peace Prize

The Wall Street Journal published an editorial on Friday night saying that Alvaro Uribe, a strong opponent of the peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP, should have won the Nobel Peace Prize instead of President Juan Manuel Santos.

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According to the WSJ, the peace price in 2016 was just one of many occasions when the prize went to "champions of false peace and naive good intentions."

The WSJ then defended the years of paramilitarism under the administration of Uribe, which ruled the country from 2002 until 2010.

"Colombia has been doing fine without a peace deal, mainly because the previous government of Alvaro Uribe chose to defend democracy through military toughness and free-market reforms," say the WSJ.

"The man who deserves the prize is Mr. Uribe, whose campaign against FARC made life safer for millions of Colombians."

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According to the paper, the Norwegian Nobel Committee made a mistake giving the price to Santos, who has been in the "news for failing to persuade voters to endorse his peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrillas."

The paper also argues the plebiscite failed because it "would have given FARC leaders near-impunity, guaranteed them seats in Congress, or allowed them to amplify their propaganda in the media." 

Uribe, a former president and current senator, led a smear campaign for a "No" vote, suggesting Santos was “handing the country to the rebels.”

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After the success of the "No" campaign in the plebiscite by less than half a percentage point, Uribe made a short declaration to the media, saying the initial peace deal signed with the FARC-EP required "adjustments and corrections."

His main issues against peace were allegedly related to illegal coca crops, drug-trafficking, extortion and FARC-EP units joining criminal groups. All these issues were mostly covered in the peace deal, including substituting illegal crops for small campesinos and helping FARC-EP fighters reintegrate into the job market.

Alvaro Uribe is a controversial figure in Colombian politics and history and has been accused of major human rights violations, including aiding and abetting the violence of right-wing paramilitaries in the country during the early 2000's.