Francisco Santos Calderón

Infobox Vice President
name = Francisco Santos


order = 9th
office = Vice President of Colombia
term_start = August 7, 2002
president = Álvaro Uribe
predecessor = Gustavo Bell
successor = Incumbent
birth_date = birth date and age|1961|10|14
birth_place = Bogotá, Capital District
nationality = Colombian
party = Colombia First
spouse = María Victoria García
alma_mater = University of Kansas,
University of Texas at Austin
occupation = Journalist, Professor
religion = Roman Catholic

Francisco Santos Calderón also known as Pacho Santos born August 14, 1961 in the city of Bogotá, is a Colombian politician and journalist. Santos was elected as Álvaro Uribe's second runner up and became Vice President in the Colombian elections of 2002. Santos was re-elected in the presidential elections of 2006 for a second term once again with President Uribe to continue as Vice President of Colombia.

Biography

Kidnapping

In 1990 the Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar kidnapped him to pressure the Colombian government to revert its support of druglords' extraditions to the United States. After his release Santos spent two years at the Harvard University in the United States. [http://www.extension.harvard.edu/alumni/about/notable.jsp Harvard Extension School Notable Alumni]

Human Rights advocate

Upon his return, Santos became an advocate of Human rights in Colombia, specially those victims affected by kidnapping after he himself suffered from this practice and created the NGO Fundación Pais Libre (Free Country Foundation) with the intentions of creating awareness and helping the victims and their families. [http://www.paislibre.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26]

References

* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/colombia/santos.htm globalsecurity.org - Francisco Santos Calderón]
* [http://www.paislibre.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26 Fundacion Pais Libre - Quienes somos]