Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, a Nieman in the class of 1988, delivered a public address at the Kennedy Forum at Harvard’s Institute of Politics on Sept. 25, covering a wide range of topics from inequality to educational reform to the role of technology in economic and societal development.  The president also responded to questions about guerrilla warfare and Colombia’s goals for peace, noting that “War is easier than peace.”

Tim Rogers, a 2014 Nieman, reports that when Santos met with Nieman curator Ann Marie Lipinski after the talk, he told her “Nieman was the best year of my life.” Santos was a columnist and deputy directorof Colombia’s largest daily newspaper, El Tiempo, which was owned by his family until 2007, when it sold the majority share to a Spanish media company.

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