The 2016 receiver of the Nobel Peace Prize is Juan Manuel Santos, the president of Colombia.

Santos said being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize is a “very important event for my country for the victims of this war and this is a commitment to keep trying to bring peace to my country. I am so grateful.”

Colombia has been at war since May of 1964 and they are very close to achieving peace, Santos said.

Santos is determined to find peace in his country for the Colombians that have not been able to live in a nonviolent state for three generations. He has hope for the good that will come from persevering these conditions for 52 years, Santos said.

According to wsp.presidencia.gov, he studied Economics and Business Administration and carried out graduate studies at the London School of Economics, Harvard University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

When Santos was a journalist, he was awarded the King of Spain Prize and was president of the Freedom of Expression Commission for the Inter American Press Association.

He has been both Finance Minister and National Defense Minister of Colombia

Since 2010 Santos has been the President of Colombia, where he received the largest amount of votes during the first round in history.

“This is something that all the Colombian people will receive with emotion and specially the victims will be very happy because I think it’s in their name that this award is given,” Santos said.

The international community has been extremely helpful in supporting Colombia, Santos said, and he thinks the Colombian people will be at agreement in their Civil war very soon.

His motivation for the nobel peace prize is “for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end,” Santos said.

All information from nobelprize.org and wsp.presidencia.gov