Santos to Take Office Vowing Colombia Jobs as Chavez Cuts Ties, Talks War

Colombian President-elect Juan Manuel Santos takes office today with pledges to create jobs, end rebel violence and foster economic growth while seeking to mend ties with Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, who says Colombia plans to attack.

Military helicopters have hovered over Bogota all week ahead of the handover, scheduled for 4 p.m. New York time, and about 30,000 troops patrolled the capital to prevent attacks by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Police this week arrested four suspected members of the country’s biggest rebel group with a stash of explosives and weapons in the city.

“I’ll work with enthusiasm and dedication to continue on the path to finally make this country a country of peace and prosperity,” Santos said Aug. 5 after receiving the Boyaca Cross, one of Colombia’s highest honors, from outgoing President Alvaro Uribe.

Santos, 58, will receive the presidential sash from Uribe amid a dispute with Chavez, who last month severed diplomatic ties and ordered troops to the border after the government revealed photos and other evidence it says shows 1,500 guerrillas are using Venezuelan territory to launch attacks and traffic guns and narcotics.

Chavez denied he’s hiding members of the rebel group, known as FARC, and said Colombia and the U.S. may attack Venezuela and assassinate him. Both countries reject his accusation.

Luring Investment

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said today in Bogota that his country is looking toward the future with Colombia and is keen to work alongside the new government, according to an e-mailed statement from the Information Ministry.

“We want to express a message of love and solidarity with the Colombian people, a message for the future and hope,” Maduro said. “We want to tell President Santos that we’ve come with the best intentions of work and progress.”

Santos and Vice President Angelino Garzon won 69 percent of the vote on promises to create 2.4 million jobs, cut drug trafficking and attempt to renew links with Venezuela. Santos has said he’s committed to helping the poor and improving education, while luring investment to the $231 billion economy.

He takes over from the most popular president in Colombia’s history. Uribe leaves with a 75 percent approval rating after cutting the number of insurgents by half from the 18,000 members it had 10 years ago, according to the defense ministry, and achieving record economic growth as security improved.

160,000 Police

“Security is still priority number one because it’s the fundamental building block on which to build everything else: economic growth, jobs, investment,” said Stephen Donehoo, a former U.S. military intelligence officer and managing director of Washington-based consulting company McLarty Associates. “Santos is inheriting the mantle and the responsibility for creating his own chapter in history.”

Chavez declined an invitation from Santos to attend the swearing-in. U.S. National Security Advisor General James Jones and heads of state including Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera will participate.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa will also attend, making his first trip to Colombia since the president-elect, as Uribe’s defense minister, bombed a FARC camp inside Ecuador in March 2008, killing the rebel’s second in command.

Santos, a 58-year-old former journalist who studied at Harvard University, is looking to avoid a repeat of Uribe’s 2002 inauguration, when 21 people died and 70 were injured during attacks on the presidential palace by FARC.

In preparation for this year’s ceremony, the government ordered 160,000 police to search cars and buildings around the country, after thousands of tons of explosives were recently discovered in Bogota and around the country. Authorities in June seized drawings of the presidential palace held by FARC.

50-Year Insurgency

Santos delivered some of the biggest blows against FARC while serving as defense minister from 2006 to 2009. He and Uribe clashed openly with Chavez, accusing him of funding FARC and providing weapons to the almost 50-year-old insurgency. Santos has declined to comment on the latest accusations.

Santos, who also served as Colombia’s finance and trade minister, said he hopes his first term will pave the way for the South American country’s economy to expand as much as 6 percent per year in two years, up from an expected 4 percent this year.

Since Uribe took office in August 2002, the IGBC stock index has risen more than eleven fold. The yield on the benchmark 11 percent bonds due 2020 fell nine basis points, or 0.09 percentage point, to 7.24 percent yesterday, according to Colombia’s stock exchange. That’s the lowest level on a closing basis since March 2006.

Colombia’s peso has strengthened almost 47 percent in the past eight years to 1,816.10 pesos to the dollar. Colombia will attract as much as $10 billion in foreign direct investment this year, up from $7.2 billion -- of which 80 percent went into oil, coal and mining -- in 2009, the government has said.